ISTANBUL – Agence France-Presse
Turkish Nobel laureate author Orhan Pamuk poses during an interview at his house in Istanbul. AFP photo
When the book begins in the 1970s, Istanbul’s population was just two million, but now it is up to 16 million, he noted.
Pamuk may be reluctant to be seen as a political figure, but he remains unequivocally critical of Erdoğan who has boasted of transforming the country into a “new Turkey” with ambitious building projects.
He said that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was “destroying the balance of powers, which is in fact the key to any democracy.”
“In that sense, Turkey is only an electoral democracy, but a democracy where the respect of human rights, free speech are violated every day.”
Pamuk leaves Turkey every year to teach for a semester at New York at Columbia University and said he could sense the change when he returned last.
“When I came back, I felt a climate of fear, people whispering.”
Commenting on Turkey’s recent history, from coup-happy generals to Erdoğan, he said: “Authoritarian soldiers were (pushed) out, (an) authoritarian and Islamist government took their place.”
Erdoğan and the AKP have dominated Turkey’s highly diverse society for over a decade but have been facing unprecedented challenges after 2013 mass protests followed by stunning corruption allegations against the elite.
“In a sense, the mystery of political Islam vanished because of the convincing power of corruption allegations,” said Pamuk.
He is far more reticent when asked to comment on the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I, a tragedy which Pamuk had in 2005 labelled a “genocide.”
Those comments brought him death threats as well as legal proceedings that were eventually abandoned.
“In a sense, the mystery of political Islam vanished because of the convincing power of corruption allegations,” said Pamuk.
He is far more reticent when asked to comment on the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I, a tragedy which Pamuk had in 2005 labelled a “genocide.”
Those comments brought him death threats as well as legal proceedings that were eventually abandoned.
“I had a lot of trouble eight to 10 years ago because I talked freely about this subject.”
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