By: Hambersom Aghbashian
Ferit Orhan Pamuk ( simply known as Orhan Pamuk – Born, Jun 7, 1952- Istanbul- Turkey ) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One
of Turkey’s most prominent novelists, his work has sold over eleven million books in sixty languages, making him the country’s best-selling writer. Pamuk is a Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University(NY). His novels include The White Castle, The Black Book, The New Life, My Name Is Red and Snow. As well as the Nobel Prize in Literature (the first Nobel Prize to be awarded to a Turkish citizen), Pamuk is the recipient of numerous other literary awards. My Name Is Red won the 2002 Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, 2002 Premio Grinzane Cavour and 2003 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The book was translated into 24 languages.
In 2005, Pamuk was put on trial in Turkey after he made a statement regarding the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. “Thirty thousand Kurds have been killed here, and a million Armenians. And almost nobody dares to mention that. So I do.” , remarked Pamuk. “What happened to the Ottoman Armenians in 1915 was a major thing that was hidden from the Turkish nation; it was a taboo. But we have to be able to talk about the past.” added Pamuk. A criminal case was opened against him based on a complaint filed by ultra-nationalist lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz*. The charges were dropped on 22 January 2006. Rallies were held to burn his books. However, Kemal Kerinçsiz, appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal which ordered the court in Şişli to re-open the case. On March 27, 2011, Pamuk was found guilty and ordered to pay 6,000 liras fine for his stand point. The charges against Pamuk caused an international outcry and led to questions in some circles about Turkey’s proposed entry into the European Union.
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*Kemal Kerinçsiz (B.1960 in Edirne, Turkey) is a Turkish lawyer, famous for filing complaints against more than 40 Turkish journalists and authors (including Orhan Pamuk and the late Hrant Dink) for “insulting Turkishness”. On 5 August 2013 Kerinçsiz was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment as part of the Ergenekon ( a Turkish nationalist underground organization) trials.
Source is (Nor Or- Jan. 9, 2014)