ORHAN PAMUK’S ISTANBUL -- 8

NEW YORK TIMES WORDS/STEVE WRIGHT IMAGES

In 2005, Mr. Pamuk responded to an interviewer’s question about a crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey by asserting that “a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in this country and I’m the only one who dares to talk about it.” 

The offhand remark, published in a Swiss newspaper, resulted in death threats, vilification in the Turkish press and charges by an Istanbul public prosecutor of the “public denigration of Turkish identity.” 

Mr. Pamuk was forced to flee the country for nearly a year — his longest time out of Turkey. 

The charges were abandoned in January 2006 amid an international outcry, and the threats have subsided. 

Though Mr. Pamuk sometimes travels with bodyguards, especially during his nocturnal rambles, he now feels relatively safe.

-Joshua Hammer