GERMANY: Turkish author Orhan Pamuk who won 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature gets honorary doctorate from Berlin university

Record ID: 863586

  • Title: GERMANY: Turkish author Orhan Pamuk who won 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature gets honorary doctorate from Berlin university
  • Date: 5th May 2007
  • Summary: BERLIN MAYOR (STATE PREMIER) KLAUS WOWEREIT WALKING ONTO STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (German) KLAUS WOWEREIT, BERLIN MAYOR (STATE PREMIER) SAYING: "We must protect threatened authors. We must show that evey attack against them is an attack against us, too, and we must fight it off together." WIDE OF WOWEREIT SPEAKING AUDIENCE LISTENING
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVADB8NNUD7BF55TG7R2LOZ8U69S
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  • Story Text: Turkish authour and winner of the 2006 Nobel literature prize Orhan Pamuk receives an honorary doctorate from Berlin university, some three months after he cancelled a trip to Germany following threats against his life. Berlin's Free University (FU) originally planned to award Pamuk the distinction in February of this year but the author postponed his journey following threats from Turkish nationalists.
    According to Berlin's mayor and state premier Klaus Wowereit, the threats were "of a real nature."
    "We must protect threatened authors," Wowereit told the audience at Free University on Friday (May 4).
    "We must show that evey attack against them is an attack against us, too, and we must fight it off together," Wowereit said.
    The threats against Pamuk came after the killing in Turkey in mid-January of Turkish-Armenian author Hrant Dink.
    Pamuk called the award "a great honour."
    "This is such a great distinction. I am very happy and very honoured and pleased," Pamuk said.
    Both Pamuk and slain author Dink have publicly criticised the genocide of Armenians more than 90 years ago and spoken out against Turkish nationalism.
    During his speech in Berlin on Friday, Pamuk did not mention the current political situation in his home country or the threats against him which prevented him from travelling to Germany in February.
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