Pamuk faces criminal charges for mentioning massacre of Armenians and Kurds

Orhan Pamuk, acclaimed author of Snow and My Name is Red, faces charges for statements he made in a Swiss newspaper earlier this month about Turkey’s 20th-Century massacre of Armenians and Kurds. (Via Neeka’s Backlog.)

The first charges were filed in Turkey last Thursday. On Saturday a new attorney brought another criminal charge, saying:

Pamuk has made groundless claims against the Turkish identity, the Turkish military and Turkey as a whole. I think he should be punished for violating Article 159 and 312 of the Turkish Penal Code…. He made a statement provoking the people to hatred and animosity through the media, which is defined as a crime in Article 312.

According to the attorney, Pamuk said, “30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in Turkey. Almost no one dares to speak out this but me, and the nationalists hate me for that.”


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