"Helping Turkey find the way forward
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2006
The judge in the free-speech trial of the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk dismissed all charges last week, sparing Turkey further international scorn. But the case was thrown out on a technicality. Turkey still needs to change the repressive law under which Pamuk was arrested and drop similar cases against dozens of other lesser-known Turks.
The most powerful motivation for making such changes has always been Turkey's desire to join the European Union. But public support for joining is now waning, down from a high of 85 percent to 65 percent recently. In part, that reflects a lingering bitterness over 11th-hour issues that tainted the start of Turkey's membership talks."
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