Nobel pick divides Turkey
Oct. 13, 2006. 01:00 AM
Toronto Star
BENJAMIN HARVEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISTANBUL, Turkey—The Nobel committee could not have picked a more divisive winner for its literature prize than Orhan Pamuk, a writer from a predominantly Muslim country whose life and works illustrate the struggle to find a balance between East and West.
That was reflected in the range of reaction in his homeland, from Turkish nationalists professing shame at the selection of a man who speaks of the oppression of Armenians and Kurds, to Turkish writers calling it a historic moment for their rich literary tradition.
Pamuk, a fellow at Columbia University in New York City, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he was overjoyed by the award and accepted it not just as "a personal honour, but as an honour bestowed upon the Turkish literature and culture I represent.''
The author did have one complaint: The Swedish Academy announced the prize at 7 a.m.
"They called and woke me up, so I was a bit sleepy," said the 54-year-old Pamuk, adding he had no immediate plans to celebrate, but looked forward to being with friends back in Turkey.
Pamuk, whose novels include Snow and My Name Is Red, was charged last year with insulting Turkishness for telling a Swiss newspaper in February 2005 Turkey was unwilling to deal with two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.
"Thirty-thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it," he said in the interview.
The controversy came at a particularly sensitive time for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Turkey had recently begun membership talks with the European Union, which harshly criticized the trial. The charges against Pamuk were dropped in January.
Pamuk has long been beloved in Europe as the lyrical voice of a society in flux and to some here his victory was another symbol of Turkey's emergence as a Western nation after decades of self-conscious cultural reform. To others, he is just an imposed icon — another example of the West telling Turkey it should be something it's not.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters: "It is source of joy for a Turk to have received (a prize) in the literature field.''
But Ozdemir Ince, a prominent Turkish poet, reacted angrily to the news.
"If you ask serious literature people, they would place Pamuk at the end of the list," he said. "Turkish literature did not win the Nobel Prize, Orhan Pamuk did.''
Pamuk has yet to win over the hearts of a people the world believes he represents.
Kemal Kerincsiz, the lawyer who led a group of ultranationalists in bringing the charges against Pamuk, said he was "ashamed.''
"This prize was not given because of Pamuk's books, it was given because of his words, because of his Armenian genocide claims ... It was given because he belittled our national values," he said. "As a Turkish citizen, I am ashamed.''
Suat Kiniklioglu, director of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said he believed Pamuk's stance on the Armenian issue was instrumental in him winning the prize. "We are extremely happy that a Turkish citizen got the Nobel prize in literature," he said, but "we cannot deny that there is a political dimension.''
Horace Engdahl, the head of the Swedish Academy that has decided the winner of every literature prize since 1901, said Pamuk won this year because he had "enlarged the roots of the contemporary novel" through his links to both Western and Eastern culture.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Toronto Star
BENJAMIN HARVEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISTANBUL, Turkey—The Nobel committee could not have picked a more divisive winner for its literature prize than Orhan Pamuk, a writer from a predominantly Muslim country whose life and works illustrate the struggle to find a balance between East and West.
That was reflected in the range of reaction in his homeland, from Turkish nationalists professing shame at the selection of a man who speaks of the oppression of Armenians and Kurds, to Turkish writers calling it a historic moment for their rich literary tradition.
Pamuk, a fellow at Columbia University in New York City, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he was overjoyed by the award and accepted it not just as "a personal honour, but as an honour bestowed upon the Turkish literature and culture I represent.''
The author did have one complaint: The Swedish Academy announced the prize at 7 a.m.
"They called and woke me up, so I was a bit sleepy," said the 54-year-old Pamuk, adding he had no immediate plans to celebrate, but looked forward to being with friends back in Turkey.
Pamuk, whose novels include Snow and My Name Is Red, was charged last year with insulting Turkishness for telling a Swiss newspaper in February 2005 Turkey was unwilling to deal with two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast.
"Thirty-thousand Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it," he said in the interview.
The controversy came at a particularly sensitive time for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. Turkey had recently begun membership talks with the European Union, which harshly criticized the trial. The charges against Pamuk were dropped in January.
Pamuk has long been beloved in Europe as the lyrical voice of a society in flux and to some here his victory was another symbol of Turkey's emergence as a Western nation after decades of self-conscious cultural reform. To others, he is just an imposed icon — another example of the West telling Turkey it should be something it's not.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters: "It is source of joy for a Turk to have received (a prize) in the literature field.''
But Ozdemir Ince, a prominent Turkish poet, reacted angrily to the news.
"If you ask serious literature people, they would place Pamuk at the end of the list," he said. "Turkish literature did not win the Nobel Prize, Orhan Pamuk did.''
Pamuk has yet to win over the hearts of a people the world believes he represents.
Kemal Kerincsiz, the lawyer who led a group of ultranationalists in bringing the charges against Pamuk, said he was "ashamed.''
"This prize was not given because of Pamuk's books, it was given because of his words, because of his Armenian genocide claims ... It was given because he belittled our national values," he said. "As a Turkish citizen, I am ashamed.''
Suat Kiniklioglu, director of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said he believed Pamuk's stance on the Armenian issue was instrumental in him winning the prize. "We are extremely happy that a Turkish citizen got the Nobel prize in literature," he said, but "we cannot deny that there is a political dimension.''
Horace Engdahl, the head of the Swedish Academy that has decided the winner of every literature prize since 1901, said Pamuk won this year because he had "enlarged the roots of the contemporary novel" through his links to both Western and Eastern culture.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:09 PM
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