Snow, the most recent novel by Orhan Pamuk, is fittingly on the Amazon top 10 as of this morning. In fact, he's got two on the list.
Think about what would happen when Mr. Pamuk makes a declaration in Paris clarifying his earlier comments where he stated, "thirty thousand Kurds and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it."
He already noted that what he intended to mean is the need for more open dialogue about this subject.
Besides, his comment did not specifically indicate that Turkey was the responsible party, and even if it had, did he mean for Turkey to be accused of 'systematic' killings indicating genocide.
If the legislation passed by France becomes the law, he would be charged according to the above denial of genocide position, and controversy would erupt, more so than it did when involving Turkey, a relatively restrictive country compared with France, as far as Westerners' perception -real or not.
On the one hand Turkey, dropping the same charges against Pamuk, as it would have applied in reverse, and declaring that Pamuk's aforementioned statement would not constitute 'anti-Turkish-ness.' Or a declaration by Turkey that 'anti-Turkish-ness' is no longer a crime, which would be the ideal that Turkey should be moving forward with anyway. It shows at least Turkey trying and showing progress toward more rights.
But on the other hand, France in essence eliminating any debate, and more importantly, restricting the freedom of expression and speech.
And to suggest, what makes Turkey such an expert when it comes to restricting freedoms, in order to defend France's actions is absurd!
By the way, I applaud this one comment Mr. Pamuk made, that would shock some of his new found admirers among the 'Islam-hating' community, as well as those who equate anti-Turkish sentiments with anti-Islam as one and the same, "I'm not interested in a blanket condemnation of all Islamists as evil, as is often the case in the West," he told a German interviewer last year. "At the same time, I am critical of the Islamist perception of the secularists as undignified imitators of the loathed West. I want to destroy the clichés cultivated by both sides. This is what I perceive as the task of a political novel." I got this from The LA Times (go to page two of the article to see the quote.) Sorry about their membership requirement.
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