I must say that I could hardly agree more with the Nobel Prize this year. Although I have not read his work I have long known about Mr. Pamuk (the first time from a long article on his on the New York Times Sunday Magazine, but the bookstore was out of his books when I went to get one). And I knew of him as much for his works than for his "politics". See, Mr. Pamuk seems to be this rare bred of individual that dares to go against the mainstream of his country cultural opinion because he knows that the mainstream opinion is wrong. For this he has sold bestsellers in Turkey but has also faced death threats and even judicial prosecution for his opinions.
His crime?
Confront Turkey on its denial on the Armenian genocide, and Kurd prosecutions and civil rights violations.
With Turkey knocking the EU doors, the voice of Mr. Pamuk will hopefully help it t make the transition to a true liberal democracy where religion is left to the private domain, where human rights abuses are corrected when possible and publicly acknowledged when it is too late.
Turkey will have to face these crimes, either through the voice of the likes of Pamuk or the voices of politicians like Chirac. One thing is certain, it will have no worry from Chavez as long as it votes for him for the UN security seat he wants (and for which there are rumors he is buying ambassadors in the UN; I am sure the ambassadors of some small countries might not mind at all a few Venezuelan stolen oil money).
Now, let's see if Caracas bookstores will carry any of Pamuk's book.
ADDENDUM: France passed a law that would make deny the Armenian genocide a crime. The law has not been signed yet but it spells more trouble for Turkey and Pamuk.
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