TURKISH TV STATION CAMPAIGNS TO GIVE NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE WINNER PAMUK A HERO'S WELCOME

Associated Press Worldstream
December 9, 2006 Saturday 6:54 PM GMT

A Turkish television station on Saturday urged Turks to flock to the
airport and give Nobel literature prize winner Orhan Pamuk a hero's
welcome on his return from the award ceremony in Sweden.

In its campaign, private Haberturk television said the novelist
deserved the same joyous welcome that the Turkish soccer team had
received on its way back from Japan, after coming third in the 2002
World Cup.

Pamuk, author of novels such as "Snow" and "My Name is Red," drew
ire in Turkey for telling a Swiss newspaper that "30,000 Kurds
and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody
but me dares to talk about it." He was tried earlier this year on
charges of insulting his country, but the charges were dropped over
a technicality.

Pamuk's Nobel prize was met with a mixed reaction in Turkey, where
nationalists professed shame at the selection of a man who spoke of
the oppression of Armenians and Kurds, while many writers called it
a historic moment for their rich literary tradition.

"It is time for us to embrace Orhan Pamuk, it is time to forget the
past," said journalist Tufan Turenc, who called in to lend support
to the campaign.

Pamuk, 54, is to collect his 10 million kronor (euro1.1 million;
US$1.4 million) award in a ceremony on Sunday.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress