Turkish Novelist Wins Nobel Prize

Famous Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has won the Noble Prize for Literature, becoming the first Turk to win a Nobel prize. This is great news for Turkey. I have heard Pamuk's writing is very moving and powerful, and I plan on finally reading one of his books soon. I know that the first thing coming to the mind of many people when they hear about this will be that Pamuk was charged with the crime of "insulting Turkishness" for his acceptance of the so-called Armenian genocide (which is not much different than the ordeal many will face if the new French law is enforced). This is unfortunate. The fact is, most Turks do not even really agree with that law. It is a creation of the conservative government in power, which gets its base of support from the segments of the population becoming increasingly dissallusioned with the process of European integreation thanks to tireless efforts from France and other European nations to not only keep Turkey out, but to weaken Turkey as much as possible. I plan on talking about French and Greek efforts to promote instability within Turkey on another day. For now, congratulations to Orhan Pamuk. I look forward to reading some of your work.