Pamuk may face new trial

PanARMENIAN.Net - Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's Nobel Prize-winning author, has said he may face new compensation claims for remarks he made about the World War I-era killing of Armenians, despite an earlier acquittal in a criminal trial.



The Supreme Court of Appeals last week overturned a lower court decision that had dismissed claims of personal damages against Pamuk, 56, paving the way for a new case. "I understand that I could be tried again, but nothing is certain," said Pamuk, who was speaking at a book fair in the Italian city of Torino, on Saturday. "In any case, I'm not worried."



The compensation suit stemmed from an interview with a Swiss magazine in 2005 when Pamuk said that "30,000 Kurds and a million Armenians were killed" in Turkey. Turkey denies Armenians were systematically killed between 1915 and 1923, saying that both sides suffered losses in internecine fighting during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.



The interview sparked a criminal case, but Pamuk was cleared of all charges and avoided a jail sentence on a technicality in 2006 amid an international outcry over the trial, which the European Union called a violation of free expression. The author of "Snow" and "My Name Is Red" went on to win the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature.



The civil suit's six plaintiffs, who seek TL 36,000 in damages, include members of a support group for families of soldiers killed fighting with outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorists and a nationalist lawyer who brought the criminal case against Pamuk, the Radikal newspaper said. "Unfortunately, the judiciary in my country concerns itself with political issues," Pamuk said. "This is not a good thing when legal institutions are supposed to be the foundation for democracy. Without freedom, there is no justice, so I think speaking freely is my duty." Istanbul Today's Zaman with wires "Unfortunately, the judiciary in my country toils with political issues," Pamuk said, according to Anatolian.

"This is not a good thing when legal institutions are supposed to be the foundation for democracy. Without freedom, there is no justice, so I think speaking freely is my duty."