Mick Hartley

After the murder of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Turkish nationalists are stepping up the pressure on critical voices like Orhan Pamuk (via b&w):

“Tell Orhan Pamuk to wise up!” one of the principal suspects in the Dink murder, right-wing extremist Yasin Hayal, a man with a criminal record, said publicly. The threat must have made a strong impression on the author.

Last week the self-proclaimed “Turkish Revenge Brigade” (TIT) posted a video on YouTube depicting Dink’s corpse next to photos of Pamuk. The lyrics of a song that accompanied the images read: “We cannot be friends with them.” The video ended with a shot of a Turkish flag and the head of a wolf — the symbol of Turkish ultra-nationalists, and the threat: “More will die.”

Pamuk, Turkey’s most famous writer and a man who ought to be the pride of this country as it seeks European Union membership, has been pursued by hate-mongering nationalists for some time, and he is not the only one. About a dozen Turkish writers, journalists and academics are currently the targets of hate-spewing, fanatical right-wing extremists.

Pamuk’s hasty departure shines a spotlight on the clash of cultures and the climate of agitation, intimidation and fear dissidents in Turkey currently face, especially those who dare to tackle national taboos — of which there are many, including the 1915 genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which the Turkish government continues to dispute, Christian minorities, the Kurds and the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) and, of course, Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish state.

According to statistics compiled by the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, close to 100 intellectuals have already been hauled before courts for voicing their critical opinions. Most have been charged with the crime of “insulting Turkishness,” or disparaging national institutions. Reactionary prosecutors use a notorious Turkish law known as Article 301 to persecute critical thinkers. […]

The roots of the problem are deeply embedded in a highly traditional, conservative society, large segments of which have suddenly chosen to obstruct the country’s efforts to become integrated into the West. “The Turkey of today harbors a smaller modern society and a vast pre-modern society that live side by side, but not in the same era,” says sociologist Dogu Ergil.

Nationalists who prefer to drive their country into isolation rather than deliver it to “imperialistic enemies” in the West currently dominate the pre-modern segment of Turkish society.