Pamuk case highlights Turkey limits on free speech

Source: Reuters; By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - This week's trial of novelist Orhan Pamuk is drawing unprecedented international media attention, but out of the spotlight many other Turkish writers face punishment for expressing dissenting views.

Issues such as the Kurdish problem, the role of the army and the killing of Armenians during World War One present a minefield for critics who risk prosecution by zealous defenders of Turkey's state orthodoxy.

Despite big strides by Turkey in recent years to improve its human rights record, the European Union, with which it began entry talks in October, wants Ankara to tackle long-standing restrictions on its writers.

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