The American Spectator

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Five journalists were charged last year for articles they wrote challenging the decision of an Istanbul court to ban an academic conference dealing with the killing of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917. The writers' crime? Attempting to "influence judicial procedures" by objecting to the court's interference with academic freedom.

The complaints against Pamuk and Shafak were filed by attorney Kemal Kerincsiz, head of the Turkish Jurists' Union. "We will not allow insults and abuse of Turkishness in the name of freedom of expressions," explained Kerincsiz.

Less narrow-minded, Shafak portrays her upcoming court battle as part of an ongoing struggle for modernity and freedom of expression: "What's going on right now is a backlash. There's a clash of opinion. On the one hand are the people who are much more cosmopolitan-minded, much more multicultural, who want to keep Turkey as an open society and who very much support wholeheartedly the European Union process. But on the other hand are the people who want to maintain Turkey as an enclosed society, more xenophobic, more nationalistic, more insular."

topics:
Military, European Union