Turkey: Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was awarded the peace prize of the German book trade association in Frankfurt yesterday. He used his appearance to repeat remarks about the Armenian massacre that could send him to jail for three years.
In December, Pamuk (53) will answer charges of "insulting and weakening Turkish identity" for his remarks on the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks from 1915, a national taboo in Turkey.
"I repeat, I said loud and clear that one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in Turkey," he said. Pamuk is Turkey's most prominent writer on the international stage. His acclaimed novels include Snow and My Name is Red.
Pamuk said EU accession talks had brought a "new dimension" to the mass-killing, which Ankara refuses to recognise as genocide.
"This dimension means that in Turkey the freedom of thought needs to be natural as well as human rights. "Everybody needs to be able to say what they think," he said.
Despite the controversy, which he said was a "political, not a cultural one", Pamuk said he was optimistic that Turkey would be admitted to the EU and that that entry would enrich the EU's culture.
Pamuk is due to go on trial on December 16th, charged with "insulting and weakening Turkish identity".