Erdogan’s remarks on Nobel Prize not for Orhan Pamuk

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not referring to Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, with his "terrorist" remark, a top official said Tuesday.

“Our president in no way refers to Orhan Pamuk in a speech in which he said ‘They had awarded a terrorist from Turkey’,” said Fahrettin Altun, Turkey's communications director.

Altun’s remarks came after Erdogan’s speech at an event in the capital Ankara in reaction to awarding of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature to Peter Handke, an Austrian writer who is accused of denying the 1995 Bosnian genocide.

Altun said Erdogan was referring to some names awarded or nominated for the Nobel Prize despite their anti-Turkey ideologies and terrorist inclinations.

“Our president actually criticized European institutions’ awarding systems based on ideological approaches and stressed the hypocrisy in rewarding racism and terrorism,” Altun said.

Turkish National Defense Ministry in a tweet said, “All ethical and humanitarian values, with peace being first and foremost, have been trampled under foot after the awarding of the Nobel Literature Prize to Peter Handke despite disapproval and objection from everyone with a conscience.”

Handke is a supporter of Slobodan Milosevic who perpetrated the genocide against “our innocent Bosnian brothers,” the ministry said.

Ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman Omer Celik also followed suit and said the award was given on International Human Rights Day to a person who received the Order of the Serbian Knight from Milosevic.

Celik described the move as “a scandal” and “a big misfortune in terms of humanity and literature”.

Handke is known to be a great admirer of former Serbian leader Milosevic, who died in 2006 while facing trial in The Hague for war crimes and genocide.

"Stand up if you support the Serbs," Handke wrote during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.

He claimed that the Muslim Bosniaks in Sarajevo had killed themselves, adding that he never believed that the Serbs had committed genocide in Srebrenica.

Handke also visited Milosevic in prison and tried to testify in his favor.

"I am here for Yugoslavia, for Serbia, for Slobodan Milosevic," Handke said in a 2006 eulogy for Milosevic.

In winning the prize, Handke will also receive 9 million Swedish kronor ($952,000) as well as a medal and a diploma.