Swedish Academy announces support for Orhan Pamuk after investigation over novel

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The Swedish Acacemy has called on Turkey to respect its "international obligations" in terms of how it treats Nobel laureate novelist Orhan Pamuk, who is facing an investigation over his latest book.

"As a member of the Council of Europe, Turkey is party to the European Convention and bound by the European Court of Justice's case law," the academy said in a statement yesterday (November 15).

"The Swedish Academy expects that Turkey respects its international commitments and follows the treatment of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk on that basis."

What happened?

A lawyer from the İzmir Bar Association applied to the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and alleged that Orhan Pamuk, in his book "Nights of Plague", insulted Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey, and the flag of Turkey, thereby inciting the public into hatred and hostility.

The lawyer also cited Orhan Pamuk's remarks about the Armenian Genocide, which had been published in a newspaper in Switzerland in 2006, before he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In his statement at the prosecutor's office, Pamuk said that "I did not write texts implying Veteran Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in his book." Sharing details about the book's content, Pamuk did not accept the charges.

Accordingly, the prosecutor's office concluded that there was no direct insult at Atatürk in the book and the character in the book is described as a person loved by people. It entered a nolle-prosequi.

Lawyer Tarcan Ülük appealed against this decision.

Examining the appeal, the Criminal Judgeship of Peace on Duty concluded that there are some remarks in some parts of the book that can be characterized as insulting and that Orhan Pamuk should be put on trial as part of the file in its current form. The judgeship has accepted the appeal.

(AÖ/VK)