Turkey fines writer who spoke about Armenians' massacres

The Nobel Prize Laureate, novelist Orhan Pamuk, who raised the issue of Armenians' genocide in his speeches, was found guilty of insulting the Turkish nation and will have to pay a serious fine.

Orhan Pamuk was convicted for one of his interviews given five years ago. Then he said that "in Turkey, a million Armenians and three hundred thousand Kurds had been massacred. Nobody talks about it; and they hate me because I'm talking about it."

Several persons, including the prominent lawyer Kemal Kerinchsiz, sued Orhan Pamuk for insulting national sentiments. According to their version, the writer had accused the entire Turkish nation, as reported by the "Echo Moskvy" Radio with reference to the Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet".

Initially, the Istanbul District Court dismissed the suit, since found it impossible to assess the damage caused to the applicants, as private representatives of the suffered, according to them, nation. However Kerinchsiz filed an appeal; and it was won by the applicants; the case was sent for reconsideration.

Under the ruling of the court, Orhan Pamuk shall pay about four thousand US dollars to the claimants as compensation for insulting their feelings of belonging to the Turkish nation.

According to the Turkish law, Pamuk has two weeks to challenge the ruling.