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Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Literature prize, was made editor-in-chief for a day of a Turkish newspaper and used the opportunity to highlight the oppression of artists and intellectuals in his cover story Sunday.
Pamuk, who has a degree in journalism but never worked in the press, was given free rein in the edition of the liberal Radikal newspaper which is celebrating its 10th anniversary by inviting celebrity guest editors.
The 54-year-old author, who was brought to court last year in a freedom-of-speech trial, used the cover story to criticise the lack of freedom of expression in Turkey and the treatment of dissident intellectuals.
It quoted a 1951 article about internationally renowned Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet, who was prosecuted at home for his leftist views, declared a traitor and escaped to Russia where he died in exile in 1963.
Published alongside a picture of Hikmet, whose works were banned in Turkey for a long time, the article urged the public "to spit in his face as much as they want".
"This expression... summarizes the unchanging place of writers and artists in the eyes of the state and the press," said Pamuk's story.
He also mentioned several other prosecuted intellectuals such as Yasar Kemal, an acclaimed author who has been tried for his remarks on a long-running Kurdish rebellion in southeastern Turkey.
Pamuk himself was regarded as a "traitor" in nationalist circles and stood trial on charges of "insulting Turkishness" when he told a Swiss magazine last year that "one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands."
His remarks were widely seen as an acknowledgement that the Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians during World War I, a position that Ankara fiercely rejects.
The court case against Pamuk, in which he risked up to three years in jail, was dropped on a technicality in January.
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AFP 071328 GMT 01 07
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