Open book, open road

Orhan Pamuk

The Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, 2006 Nobel laureate in literature, has fled to New York and has no immediate plans to return to Turkey, according to a story in yesterday's London Telegraph. Citing sources close to Pamuk, the Telegraph said he has withdrawn $400,000 from his Turkish accounts.

Pamuk was hauled into court last year under Turkey's notorious Article 301, which makes it a crime to "insult Turkishness," but charges were dropped. He had made a reference in an interview to the deaths of Armenians in 1915, allegedly at the hands of Turkish forces, which outraged nationalists who deny the massacres. The Telegraph said he also recently cancelled a planned book tour in Germany, reportedly because of hints from nationalists that his life might be in danger.

Elif Shafak, whose novel "The Bastard of Istanbul" has just been published in the United States, was also charged (and acquitted) under Article 301, and she too has been New York. Her planned tour this month was cut back to a series of telephone interviews, including one that appeared in Tuesday's Boston Globe, in light of last month's assassination of outspoken Armenian/Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, in Istanbul. A spokeswoman for Viking, her U.S. publisher, today said that Shafak has already returned home. One hopes she is well-guarded.