Focus on Words

abolish armies and to hold and promote peace conferences. In 1997 the Nobel Peace
Prize went to an American called Jody Williams for her efforts to get landmines
banned. Perhaps now, Alfred Nobel will rest more easily in his grave.
Orhan Pamuk
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2006 was awarded to Orhan Pamuk “who in the
quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the
clash and interlacing of cultures.”
On the fourth day after his return to Turkey, Ka, a Turkish poet who has been an
exile in Germany since twelve years, finds himself in the city of Kars for an interview.
Walking under the slow and ceaseless snow, street by street, store by store, he tries to
get to know this melancholic and beautiful city and its people.
Read the interview to discuss the issue.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Orhan Pamuk: Armenian Genocide is a Moral Issue
By Khatchig Mouradian
The Armenian Weekly
Oct. 12, 2007
Answering a question from the audience during his
book reading organized by the Harvard Bookstore on
Oct. 12, Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk said that the Armenian
genocide is a moral issue that needs to be discussed freely in Turkey.
The question read, “What do you think about the Armenian Genocide Resolution
in the U.S. Congress?” Pamuk said, “I was expecting this question.” Interrupted by
laughter from the audience, Pamuk continued, “Don’t worry, I’ll get out of it.”
“For me, it’s a moral issue, it’s a personal issue,” he went on to say. “For me it’s an
issue of free speech, which we don’t totally have in Turkey. ... The Turkish people
should be able to freely discuss [this issue].”
Pamuk added, “I basically think it is upsetting that this issue is getting to be an
arm-twisting issue [between states] rather than a moral or free speech issue in Turkey,
Pamuk was in Cambridge to read from his newly published book Other Colors:
Essays and a Story. He is the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2005, he
was charged with “insulting Turkishness” under Turkey’s notorious Article 301 for
saying in an interview with a Swiss magazine that “Thirty thousand Kurds and a
million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it.” The
charges were later dropped.
YOU TURN
1. Where did you learn about the Armenian Genocide from?
2. What famous personalities contributed to the recognition of the Genocide?
3. Do you think that moral victory is won by the Armenians?
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