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  • Gursel Calm Ahead Of Verdict

    GURSEL CALM AHEAD OF VERDICT

    EuroNews
    May 22 2009
    France

    He is not the first writer to live far from his homeland, but Nedim
    Gursel, one of Turkey's greatest authors, likes to think of himself
    as a bridge, not only between two nations, but between the west and
    the east.

    He fled his country during the military coup of 1980, and is now
    a naturalised Frenchman living in Paris where he heads research at
    the CNRS, and holds conferences on Europe. His latest was at Paris's
    Science-Politics grande ecole.

    Nowadays he is a frequent visitor to his homeland, but he still faces a
    blasphemy trial for his novel "Allah's daughters", published in Turkey
    last year. The state prosecutor has already called for his aquittal,
    but there remains a one to two-year prison term at stake. euronews
    caught up with Nedim Gursel in Paris.

    euronews: "Europeans ask themselves if Turkey really is a secular
    nation that deserves integration in the European Union. How would
    you answer them?"

    Nedim Gursel: "You know, I'm a fervent partisan for my country's
    integration in the EU. But now with this trial I wonder, all the
    same. Is Turkey drifting towards a more authoritarian regime? That
    wouldn't be compatible with Turkey's desire to be European.

    I just hope that my trial is a hiccup on the way, but I think Europe
    is right to ask questions, because today Turkey is perhaps not ready
    to join."

    euronews: "Isn't the EU, or rather, aren't Europeans to blame? When
    you talk with Turkish people they often describe the contempt they
    have to deal with; they see the EU as a 'christian club'."

    NG: "Yes, the Turks hate this rejection. It hurts their national
    pride. I'm against nationalism, but Turkey has been knocking on the
    EU's door for a long time now, and someone is always finding some
    excuse to deliver a speech against Turkish membership. As Mrs Merkel
    and Mr Sarkozy are doing at the moment.

    Turkey is a muslim country. But if it shared Europe's values it
    would be an enriching experience for Europe. This is a difficult
    thing for Europeans to recognise, they won't admit it, but Turkey's
    candidature forces Europe to live up to its image: Does Europe affirm
    its own identity by rejecting the Turkish one? Or does it reconcile
    the two? A reconciliation is needed."

    euronews: "There is still progress to report. Freedom of expression
    has advanced in recent years, the poet Narim Hikmet's nationality
    was restored, and last year the infamous article 301 which punished
    the crime of denigrating the Turkish nation was reformed. But there
    are organisations and individuals who claim these changes are merely
    cosmetic. Do you agree?"

    NG: "It's good that you mention Nazim Hikmet, one of Turkey's greatest
    poets. The state committed a terrible crime by jailing him for 16
    years, then exiling him, and he died in Moscow in 1963.

    So our prime minister recently announced his rehabilitation, and
    added that Turkey was no longer a country that persecuted its writers.

    I was obviously one of the first to cheer, but this trial is a glaring
    denial of that speech...So it's been said the changes are cosmetic,
    small, but maybe that's all for the good because the democratisation
    of Turkey still has far to go, and without Europe on the horizon it
    will get nowhere."

    euronews: "You are one of the signatories to the Letter of Apology
    to the Armenians published by a group of Turkish intellectuals. Some
    have criticised the letter for not using the word 'genocide'."

    NG: "Turkey really needs to face up to its past. I think it was
    a good thing to sign this letter, because it breaks taboos. Ah,
    taboos! Like religion, the Armenian problem is a taboo in Turks'
    collective memory. It's the same for the Kurds. Only 10 years ago we
    couldn't even talk about it, couldn't even use the word Kurd. Now
    the President Abdullah Gul says the Kurdish question is the most
    important one facing our country. So there has been a clear evolution."

    euronews: "Do you consider yourself in exile?"

    NG:"It's a voluntary exile. I'm not in exile in fact, I go to Turkey
    very often to nourish my imagination, to feed on Turkey's Ottoman
    heritage. I write historical novels and I love Istanbul, but there
    was a time, just after the military coup on September the 12th 1980
    when I couldn't return to my country for 3 years. Then I really was in
    exile. That's why I wrote "The last tram", where I express my feelings
    as a Turkish writer in exile, his wanderings, his attachment to his
    country, his city.

    Now I don't feel like an exile at all. I'm a little in Paris, a
    little in Istanbul and I always say metaphorically that I'm like the
    Bosphorous bridge, that doesn't just join two banks, Europe and Asia,
    but also joins men and cultures, and I think that's the writer's role,
    because literature is universal and brings people together."

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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