SWEDEN: Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk sad EU enthusiasm is waning in Turkey

Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, the 2006 Nobel Laureate for literature, said on Wednesday (December 6) he was sad to see the appetite for Turkey's European Union accession flagging, although he still sees membership as inevitable. The European Commission has proposed partially suspending Turkey's year-old accession talks over its failure to open harbours and airports to traffic from Cyprus, whose government Ankara does not recognise. In Turkey itself, opinion polls show waning enthusiasm and resentment over EU reform demands. "If Turkey joins European Union this is good for Europe because Europe learns to be more tolerant and multicultural, this is good for Turkish democracy and economy and Turkish people," Pamuk, in Stockholm for events leading to Sunday's (December 10) Nobel award ceremony, told a news conference. "But unfortunately, in the last say two years, the enthusiasm for this is fading away, both in Europe and in Turkey. That's why I'm sad," he said. Pamuk, 54, is known internationally for novels that illuminate the complexities of Turkey, including its love-hate relationship with Europe. His fame burgeoned in 2006, a year that began with a headline-grabbing trial and will end with his acceptance of literature's most coveted award. It also saw him take his first job outside of fiction writing, teaching at Columbia University. Pamuk became a symbol for freedom of expression after Turkish prosecutors tried him in January for violating Turkey's article 301 -- a controversial law that bans insults to "Turkishness". The case was later dropped on a technicality, but not before it brought a sharp EU rebuke. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn hailed Pamuk's Nobel win as a triumph for free speech. Turkey is trying to change the law in time for a mid-December EU summit, when leaders will discuss the fate of its EU candidacy. Pamuk said he did not believe winning a Nobel would make it any less risky to weigh in on politics. He said winning the prize did not protect him from any prosecution in Turkey, adding that he would not allow the prize to change his "political habits". Pamuk, who learned he had won the award just 10 days after starting his Columbia teaching job, said he would not let the pressure of being a Nobel Laureate affect his writing. He is at work on a novel he began 3-1/2 years ago. "This prize, although it is such a distinguished honour that I am very pleased about, will not change my life. It may change my financial situation, but not my life," he said. Pamuk also made it clear that he didn't want to be sean as "bridge builder": "My first wish is not to explain any civilisation to anyone or to be a bridge but to write as my humours as I want to write and to search and find true writing," Pamuk said. He said his urge to write fiction came from a desire to express himself and to search the inner truths of his spirit through writing.

ITN Source | December 7, 2006

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