About  the procecution of Orhan Pamuk.

 An open letter

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few days the impending prosecution of Orhan Pamuk’s— Turkey's most famous writer—has been the focus of the U.S. and international media.   

The indictment, by a Turkish court, of Pamuk for telling “Tagesanzeiger” Swiss newspaper that "30,000 Kurds and one million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it," threatens Turkey’s chances of joining the European Union. If convicted, he could spend three years in jail.

Unfortunately, the Canadian media, other than The Globe and Mail (which published a short story in its entertainment section), has ignored the freedom of speech and human rights story.

The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times (the latter three in the United Kingdom) and many papers around the world have condemned Turkey’s indictment of Pamuk. I can supply you with copies of these editorials and opinion pieces.

In an editorial, The Guardian (Sept. 9) said the Pamuk indictment was "regrettable—and a gift to Turkey's enemies—that at this delicate moment the renowned novelist Orhan Pamuk is facing Ataturk-era charges of 'belittling Turkishness' over his brave comments about the Armenian genocide of 1915. Countries that join the EU must be able to confront their own past, and respect free speech."

The Financial Times (Sept. 5) editorial on Pamuk said the author had complained about "the conspiracy of silence about the mass murder of the Ottoman Empire's Armenians during and after the first world war. In the real world, it is inconceivable that Turkey will ever enter the EU if it cannot face up to this blood-sodden chapter of its history."

As Maureen Freely said in her column in The Independent (UK) on August 31, with the indictment of Orhan Pamuk Turkey had scored "an own goal" and "shot itself in the foot."

The European Union and many international organizations, among them the Canadians branch of PEN, International Freedom of Expression eXchange, and Man Booker judges and winners have denounced Turkey and issued an action appeals to their members. 

I wrote an op-ed page article about the affair and submited it to several Canadian newspapers. Unfortunately, none bothered even to acknowledge the receipt of the piece. 

As a Canadian journalist, I am wondering about the priorities of our media. I used to take pride in Canadian media’s fairness, its defense of freedom of speech, its respect for human rights and professional coverage of world news. I don’t know what to think now. The lack of coverage of Pamuk’s case is puzzling. I am hoping our mass media will recover and give the story its due.

Aris Babikian