Friday, September 29, 2006

The Japan Times Online - Half a glass in Turkey

"Half a glass in Turkey

The case of Turkish novelist Elif Shafak makes it hard to decide whether the glass that is Turkey is half-full or half-empty.

Ms. Shafak is the author of a best-selling novel titled 'The Bastard of Istanbul.' The book, set in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire, features an Armenian character who uses the term 'genocide' to describe the Turkish deportations of 1915 in which almost a million Armenians died. Turkey denies there was a genocide, and its recently updated penal code makes use of that term, or others deemed critical of the government, a criminal offense."

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