Orhan Pamuk: Erdogan's election win was very disappointing and depressing for liberal Turks

The Turkish Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

"This is a great honour and distinction for me," Pamuk said at the ceremony held at the university on Thursday (June 29).

"We are honouring one of the greatest living writers of our time, a man who is not only the author of excellent and moving novels for all of us, but also an individual with an impeccable moral stance. Someone who recalls the noblest attitudes of writers who fought against totalitarianism and different regimes. Orhan Pamuk is an author everyone should read at some point," said the Dean of the Faculty of Polish and Classical Philology, Prof. Tomasz Mizerkiewicz.

Orhan Pamuk was born on June 7, 1952, in Istanbul. Having started writing during studies, he graduated from the Institute of Journalism at the University of Istanbul in 1976. His first novel, Karanlık ve Işık (Darkness and Light), was published in 1974. His other works include: Beyaz Kale (The White Castle, 1985), Kara Kitap (The Black Book, 1990), Yeni Hayat (The New Life, 1994), Benim Adim Kirmizi (My Name is Red, 1998) and Kar (Snow, 2002).

Pamuk has been involved in international affairs. He was one of the first writers to speak out against the fatwa issued on Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

In 2005, the writer was accused of "insulting Turkishness" in his comments regarding the Armenian genocide in 1915 and the victims of the Kurdish uprising in the 1990s.

Pamuk was the main guest of the 33rd edition of Malta Festival Poznań which began on Wednesday (June 28).

The Turkish writer, who had won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006, spoke with the TVN24 reporter Łukasz Wójcik.

Asked about the recent presidential election in Turkey, won by the sitting president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pamuk replied: "It was a surprise for the whole opposition, and it was such a big disappointment".

"I think the opposition, which is partly nationalistic - there were even also Islamist parties - (is) mainly an opposition towards Erdogan’s authoritarianism. And it was a liberal – you know - slightly liberal opposition, and I wanted them to win. Unfortunately, they lost. It was such a sad moment for all the people who believe in - relatively speaking - more Western values, more secularism, more women’s rights. Especially in the last 5 years, Erdohan pressured women’s rights and kept them out, although he got so many women’s votes," he added.

The writer also said that although the election outcome had been a disappointment, he had not been "as surprised as others". "I think the opposition’s candidate, although he is – I can’t say that he is my friend, but I know him – he is a very honest, distinguished guy. He will never bribes, he will never cheat or this or that, but was (of) Turkish origin, and Turkish Shia Alevi origin, and in that sense, unfortunately, he was not a very popular candidate. A wrong candidate chosen in the wrong times. But it was hard, because I have so much respect for his honesty and his integrity."

"It was not a surprise for me, but I shared the sadness of losing the election. After many, many elections we all thought the Erdogan’s reign is going to be over. It did not end. It is a very disappointing and depressing moment for all the Turks who believe in liberal values," Orhan Pamuk stressed.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ORHAN PAMUK BELOW