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ANKARA: Nationalist lawyer loses comp. case against author Pamuk

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  • ANKARA: Nationalist lawyer loses comp. case against author Pamuk

    Nationalist lawyer loses compensation case against author Pamuk

    The New Anatolian / Ankara
    July 29 2006

    A court on Friday dropped a compensation case against renowned
    Turkish author Orhan Pamuk, adding a fresh defeat for complainant
    Kemal Kerincsiz, an ultranationalist lawyer seemingly fixed on
    fighting any deed or comment contradicting the state's views.

    The case was opened on the grounds that Pamuk accused the Turkish
    people of genocide by saying "Thirty thousand Kurds and 1 million
    Armenians were killed on these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk
    about it" in an interview published by a Swiss newspaper last year.

    Kerincsiz and five other nationalists each sought YTL 6,000 in
    compensation from Pamuk, accusing him of "insulting, humiliating and
    making false accusations." Kerincsiz said after the hearing that
    they'll appeal the decision.

    Pamuk also stood trial for the same comment earlier this year on
    charges of "denigrating Turkish identity" under controversial Article
    301 of the revised Turkish Penal Code (TCK). However that case, which
    Kerincsiz also attended as a third party lawyer, was dropped for
    technical reasons.

    The case was heard amid intense international scrutiny and made the
    headlines in both the domestic and foreign media when
    ultranationalist groups attacked Pamuk, his supporters and foreign
    officials.

    Although the official Armenian stance accuses Turkey of killing some
    1.5 million of their ancestors in an organized campaign of genocide
    during World War I, Turkey denies the state's involvement but admits
    that large numbers of Armenians died of starvation and disease, which
    it says is normal in wartime.
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