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Reuters, UK
Jan 31 2007
Turkey's Pamuk cancels German trip amid safety fears
Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:51am ET
By Madeline Chambers
BERLIN (Reuters) - Nobel-prize winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk
has canceled a trip to Germany at short notice, his German publisher
said on Wednesday, as concerns for his personal security grow.
Pamuk's safety became an issue after the murder this month of
prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. A key
suspect in that murder, escorted by police into a court house, warned
Pamuk to be careful.
Pamuk, who won the Nobel prize for literature in October, had been
due to visit several German cities, including Cologne, Hamburg,
Stuttgart and Munich on a book reading tour starting at the end of
this week.
"We heard from him yesterday afternoon that he had decided to
cancel," said a spokeswoman for Hanser publishers in Munich.
"It was his decision but he gave no reason."
German media reported the writer had been worried about a possible
attack although Berlin police said they were unaware of any threat.
The government declined to comment other than to say they did not
know the reason for Pamuk's decision.
The murdered Dink had been a hate figure for ultra-nationalists
because he had urged Turks to acknowledge the mass killing of
Armenians on Turkish soil in 1915, still a highly sensitive issue in
Turkey.
Both Dink and Pamuk have been prosecuted under laws restricting
freedom of expression in Turkey, which wants to join the European
Union.
In a what was seen as a test case for freedom of speech in Turkey,
Pamuk was tried for insulting "Turkishness" after telling a Swiss
paper in 2005 that 1 million Armenians had died in Turkey during
World War One and 30,000 Kurds had perished in recent decades.
Though the court dismissed the charges on a technicality, other
writers and journalists are still being prosecuted under the article
and can face a jail sentence of up to three years.
PEN, a body which speaks up for persecuted writers, said threats
against Pamuk had to be taken seriously and urged the EU to be strict
with Turkey.
Reuters Pictures
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from the last 24 hours.
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"The EU should continue to make clear that entry for Turkey is only
possible if democracy is stronger there," Germany's PEN center
President Johano Strasser told German radio.
Pamuk, whose best-known novels include "My Name is Red" and "Snow",
has a sizeable following in Germany, home to about 2.5 million people
of Turkish descent.
Kenan Kolat, head of the TGD Turkish Communities in Germany, said he
did not know the background to the affair but saw no danger for the
author if he came to Germany.
"Of course there are nationalists here, too, but I would really not
expect any violence," Kolat told Reuters.
Last year a Berlin opera house caused a storm in Germany when it
canceled a production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" which showed Prophet
Mohammad's severed head, citing security fears.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Krumenacker and Darren Butler in
Istanbul)
Jan 31 2007
Turkey's Pamuk cancels German trip amid safety fears
Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:51am ET
By Madeline Chambers
BERLIN (Reuters) - Nobel-prize winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk
has canceled a trip to Germany at short notice, his German publisher
said on Wednesday, as concerns for his personal security grow.
Pamuk's safety became an issue after the murder this month of
prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul. A key
suspect in that murder, escorted by police into a court house, warned
Pamuk to be careful.
Pamuk, who won the Nobel prize for literature in October, had been
due to visit several German cities, including Cologne, Hamburg,
Stuttgart and Munich on a book reading tour starting at the end of
this week.
"We heard from him yesterday afternoon that he had decided to
cancel," said a spokeswoman for Hanser publishers in Munich.
"It was his decision but he gave no reason."
German media reported the writer had been worried about a possible
attack although Berlin police said they were unaware of any threat.
The government declined to comment other than to say they did not
know the reason for Pamuk's decision.
The murdered Dink had been a hate figure for ultra-nationalists
because he had urged Turks to acknowledge the mass killing of
Armenians on Turkish soil in 1915, still a highly sensitive issue in
Turkey.
Both Dink and Pamuk have been prosecuted under laws restricting
freedom of expression in Turkey, which wants to join the European
Union.
In a what was seen as a test case for freedom of speech in Turkey,
Pamuk was tried for insulting "Turkishness" after telling a Swiss
paper in 2005 that 1 million Armenians had died in Turkey during
World War One and 30,000 Kurds had perished in recent decades.
Though the court dismissed the charges on a technicality, other
writers and journalists are still being prosecuted under the article
and can face a jail sentence of up to three years.
PEN, a body which speaks up for persecuted writers, said threats
against Pamuk had to be taken seriously and urged the EU to be strict
with Turkey.
Reuters Pictures
Editors Choice: Best pictures
from the last 24 hours.
View Slideshow
"The EU should continue to make clear that entry for Turkey is only
possible if democracy is stronger there," Germany's PEN center
President Johano Strasser told German radio.
Pamuk, whose best-known novels include "My Name is Red" and "Snow",
has a sizeable following in Germany, home to about 2.5 million people
of Turkish descent.
Kenan Kolat, head of the TGD Turkish Communities in Germany, said he
did not know the background to the affair but saw no danger for the
author if he came to Germany.
"Of course there are nationalists here, too, but I would really not
expect any violence," Kolat told Reuters.
Last year a Berlin opera house caused a storm in Germany when it
canceled a production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" which showed Prophet
Mohammad's severed head, citing security fears.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Krumenacker and Darren Butler in
Istanbul)