Turkish novelist deplores lack of free speech in country

"The worst is that there's a fear. I find that everyone is afraid; it's not normal.... Freedom of expression has fallen to a very low level," Pamuk said in an interview with Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper published on Sunday.
 
Pamuk, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, also accused the Turkish government of exerting pressure on the media and harassing the country’s opposition journalists.
 
The 62-year-old novelist complained that some of his friends working as journalists have lost their jobs, adding, “Now it's even journalists who are very close to the government who are getting harassed."
 
He further lashed out at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently said that women and men could not be treated equally as it goes against the laws of nature.
 
“Our politicians make thoughtless statements on this point as if they want to start a fight," Pamuk said.
 
The remarks come as Turkey has often been criticized for clamping down on journalists and sentencing them to long prison terms. Media freedom advocacy groups have on numerous occasions described the country as the world’s largest prison for journalists.
 
Back in September, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Turkey is suffering a “worrying rollback” of human rights under Erdogan, criticizing Ankara for what it called restricting judicial independence and media freedom.
 
Erdogan was elected as the president of Turkey in August after more than a decade as premier. Over the past months, the country has adopted a series of controversial laws aimed at tightening Ankara’s control over the judiciary system as well as Internet access.