In the News
Turkey has hit the international headlines for two reasons this week.
Nobel Pamuk
Firstly, Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is great new for a country who is, as Mehmet Alis Birand of the Turkish Daily News put it: "a nation proud of its tradition of not reading books".
I did start reading one of his books "Snow" but less than half way through I had to stop reading for health reasons. It was so depressing, it might have forced me to top myself.Some Turks are not all that proud of Pamuk however, considering his public comments regarding the Armenian Genocide. Namely that it happened.
Notably people took offence to him saying one million Armenians and 30 000 Kurds were killed.
For saying this he was charged late last year under Article 301 which make is an offence to "insult Turkishness". Hmmm.
Freedom of Speech
Which brings us to the other headline hitting news item: France passes a bill which makes it a crime to deny the Armenian Genocide. This has sparked some fierce reactions from the Turks.
Most signifcant for me was walking down our street to see bus loads of armed police in riot gear, dogs, tear gas launchers and AK47 assault rifles protecting the French consulate from protestors.
From what I have read, it seems allot of Armenians were killed, that is pretty hard to deny. Anyone who does deny this you can rightfully call ignorant or a fool. Why therefore, you need to pass a law making it a crime to deny something that is obvious seems a little pointless, not to mention being a blight to the freedom of speech.
For example, I cannot defend the views of the Pauline Hansons or David Irvings of the world, but I will defend their right to say it. Anyone who takes them seriously is as stupid as they are.
Anyway, the larger implications of the French law is that it drives a deeper wedge between Europe and Turkey making a Turkish addition to the EU an increasingly unlikely situation in the foreseeable future.
Photos thanks to:
1 comment:
Post a Comment