Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Orhan Pamuk

Yesterday, President Bush quoted Ohrhan Pamuk in Istanbul, when he called for Turkey's inclusion in the European Union (an attempt to replay Reagan's "tear down this wall" moment?):

"The Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk has said that the finest view of Istanbul is not from the shores of Europe, or from the shores of Asia, but from a bridge that unites them, and lets you see both. His work has been a bridge between cultures, and so is the Republic of Turkey. The people of this land understand, as Pamuk has observed, that 'What is important is not [a] clash of parties, civilizations, cultures, East and West.' What is important, he says, is to realize 'that other peoples in other continents and civilizations' are 'exactly like you.' "

Here's a website devoted to the author, and here's where you can buy his new book, Snow at Amazon.com.