Turkey Charges Author

Turkey has charged novelist Orhan Pamuk with the "public denigrating of Turkish identity," which could lead to a three year jail sentence (click here to read the article sent courtesy of JB). The charges are linked to an interview Pamuk gave to a Swiss newspaper about topics he said were taboo in his country like the massacre of Armenians in 1915 and Turkey's treatment of the Kurds. While Turkey has changed some of its laws to allow for more freedom of expression than in the past, it has a long way to go. Turkey is attempting to enter the European Union, but actions like this do not aid that effort.

--Tom Hayes