Orhan Pamuk has written to Silivri: I stand by those who have been silenced

I have many memories of Turhan Günay. They all have to do with books. An article commissioned for the Book Supplement, the promotion of a new book, an encounter at an award ceremony... These encounters, meetings, interviews, articles ... We would fly through them, check through the texts, bid our farewells and then part in the hubbub of Istanbul and it was as if the flow of time had dragged us apart, leaving me deprived of this polite, delicate person. Until our next meeting a while later at a new venue and for a new reason. From time to time there were political altercations, arguments and differences of opinion. It was as though Turhan stayed above and outside of them and viewed the scene from within books and tried to explain it through books. In the interviews we had, while talking with excitement about my new book, caught up in the flow of the conversation, I sometimes wondered how Turrhan could be so calm, relaxed and self-possessed. Maybe this was because Turhan spent his whole life among books and promoting new books.

I believe that my valued friends, whom I believe to have suffered a great injustice, will soon be released. I long for the nice ordinary days when Turhan, having got out of jail, will take charge of the Book Supplement. I take this opportunity to make known that I stand by all Cumhuriyet newspaper’s columnists who are currently in jail and have been silenced through an unjust judiciary. Valued friends, I know that you are standing tall and have maintained you honour, and I feel great respect for all of you.