I don't pin my hopes on American presidents

He's happy that Obama is the new American President but that doesn't make him any more optimistic, said author Orhan Pamuk in conversation with his fans in the city

For a Nobel laureate, Orhan Pamuk wears his title quite lightly. Abruptly, he stops reading a passage from his book, My Name is Red and asks his audience if he is pronouncing the word "counterfeit" right. The audience, at
first dumbfounded at his humility, softly murmur the right pronunciation of the word to the author and the reading continues.

The fact that he chose the chapter of the counterfeit coin from his book also makes it clear that he'd rather share a humorous moment with his fans, than impress them with lofty ideas of Islamic extremism or political persecution. But when Pamuk is on the podium he has to face a volley of questions, which he, of course, answers deftly. Here are some of his answers.

On the clash of civilisations
The concept of clash of civilisation may be a good idea in a Harvard classroom but it's not a good idea in the media's hands. Whether it is used to legitimise American domination and the right to bomb and kill innocent people. I'm critical of it especially when the western media is using it to legitimise overwhelming power and kill non-westerners. You cannot use clash of civilisation to kill 100,000 Iraqis.
That I don't accept.

That's murder.

On an author's freedom of speech
The Article 301 (of Turkey's constitution) is notorious. The authorities don't persecute famous authors but they continue to persecute other people who are outspoken. When I was being persecuted, I didn't want to over-dramatise my situation because so many Turkish authors were sent to prison and suffered so much. My situation was dramatised because of my books and the international pressure.
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On political terror
Political terror is damning whether it comes from Islamic extremists or nationalists or any other autocratic person. I try to broach these subjects of political Islam, nationalism, anger, political killing as best as I can. I try to understand why these terrible things are happening in this world. That is what my novel Snow is about.

On the Obama-phenomenon
I'm pleased that Obama has been elected to the White House but I'm not an optimistic person and I don't pin my future hopes on American presidents.

Pamuk's bestsellers
Orhan Pamuk was the first Turkish citizen to win the Nobel prize for literature. Some of his well-known books include The White Castle, The Black Book, My Name is Red and Snow. These are available at all leading book stores in the city.