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PAUL AUSTER HITS BACK AT TURKISH PM
guardian.co.uk
Friday 3 February 2012 13.41 GMT
After Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the novelist 'ignorant', Auster
reiterates protest against country's free speech prohibitions
Paul Auster Paul Auster: 'There are nearly 100 writers imprisoned in
Turkey'. Photograph: Xavier Bertral/EPA/Corbis
American novelist Paul Auster has hit back after the Turkish prime
minister described him as "an ignorant man".
Auster, author of the acclaimed New York Trilogy, told Turkish paper
Hurriyet earlier this week that he refused to visit Turkey because of
imprisoned journalists and writers. "How many are jailed now? Over
100?" Auster, a popular author in Turkey where his new book Winter
Journal has just made its first appearance, said. "Us Democrats got
rid of the Bushes. We got rid of [former vice president Dick] Cheney
who should have been put on trial for war crimes. What is going on
in Turkey?"
Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to respond,
saying on Wednesday, in what was described as a "mocking" tone:
"As if we need you! Who cares if you come or not? Would Turkey lose
any grandeur?"
Erdogan also criticised Auster, the grandson of Jewish immigrants, for
visiting Israel. "Supposedly Israel is a democratic, secular country, a
country where freedom of expression and individual rights and freedoms
are limitless. What an ignorant man you are ~E Aren't these the ones
that rained bombs down on Gaza? The ones that launched phosphorus
bombs and used chemical weapons. How can you not see this?" said the
Turkish prime minister. "This gentleman can't see the repression and
rights violations in Israel ~E This is serious disrespect to Turkey."
The war of words continues with a statement issued by Auster, in
which he says that "whatever the prime minister might think about
the state of Israel, the fact is that free speech exists there and
no writers or journalists are in jail".
"According to the latest numbers gathered by International PEN,
there are nearly 100 writers imprisoned in Turkey, not to speak of
independent publishers such as Ragip Zarakolu, whose case is being
closely watched by PEN Centers around the world," said Auster.
Zarakolu was one of more than 40 free speech activists detained in
Istanbul in November, prompting international protests. The founder
of Belge Publishing House and a member of Turkish PEN, Zarakolu has
released controversial books documenting the massacre of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during the first world war. Seven Swedish MPs have now
applied for him to be awarded the Nobel peace prize, a move supported
by the International Publishers Association.
guardian.co.uk
Friday 3 February 2012 13.41 GMT
After Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the novelist 'ignorant', Auster
reiterates protest against country's free speech prohibitions
Paul Auster Paul Auster: 'There are nearly 100 writers imprisoned in
Turkey'. Photograph: Xavier Bertral/EPA/Corbis
American novelist Paul Auster has hit back after the Turkish prime
minister described him as "an ignorant man".
Auster, author of the acclaimed New York Trilogy, told Turkish paper
Hurriyet earlier this week that he refused to visit Turkey because of
imprisoned journalists and writers. "How many are jailed now? Over
100?" Auster, a popular author in Turkey where his new book Winter
Journal has just made its first appearance, said. "Us Democrats got
rid of the Bushes. We got rid of [former vice president Dick] Cheney
who should have been put on trial for war crimes. What is going on
in Turkey?"
Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to respond,
saying on Wednesday, in what was described as a "mocking" tone:
"As if we need you! Who cares if you come or not? Would Turkey lose
any grandeur?"
Erdogan also criticised Auster, the grandson of Jewish immigrants, for
visiting Israel. "Supposedly Israel is a democratic, secular country, a
country where freedom of expression and individual rights and freedoms
are limitless. What an ignorant man you are ~E Aren't these the ones
that rained bombs down on Gaza? The ones that launched phosphorus
bombs and used chemical weapons. How can you not see this?" said the
Turkish prime minister. "This gentleman can't see the repression and
rights violations in Israel ~E This is serious disrespect to Turkey."
The war of words continues with a statement issued by Auster, in
which he says that "whatever the prime minister might think about
the state of Israel, the fact is that free speech exists there and
no writers or journalists are in jail".
"According to the latest numbers gathered by International PEN,
there are nearly 100 writers imprisoned in Turkey, not to speak of
independent publishers such as Ragip Zarakolu, whose case is being
closely watched by PEN Centers around the world," said Auster.
Zarakolu was one of more than 40 free speech activists detained in
Istanbul in November, prompting international protests. The founder
of Belge Publishing House and a member of Turkish PEN, Zarakolu has
released controversial books documenting the massacre of Armenians by
Ottoman Turks during the first world war. Seven Swedish MPs have now
applied for him to be awarded the Nobel peace prize, a move supported
by the International Publishers Association.