Protests grow as Peter Handke receives Nobel medal in Sweden
NB: The Turkish government has no business protesting holocaust denial, since it punishes those who dare to recall the Armenian genocide of 1915. Hypocrisy reigns supreme. DS
As Turkey joins Albania and Kosovo in boycotting Tuesday’s Nobel prize ceremony for Peter Handke over his support for Slobodan Milosevic’s genocidal regime, war correspondents from Christiane Amanpour to Jeremy Bowen are protesting his win by sharing their harrowing stories from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The Austrian writer, whose stance on the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and attendance at Milosevic’s funeral have been widely criticised, is due to receive his Nobel medal in Stockholm, where a large protest demonstration is expected.
see also
Robert Fisk: In the cases of two separate holocausts, Israel and Poland find it difficult to acknowledge the facts of history / Andre Liebich: On the Polish Holocaust law debate
As Turkey joins Albania and Kosovo in boycotting Tuesday’s Nobel prize ceremony for Peter Handke over his support for Slobodan Milosevic’s genocidal regime, war correspondents from Christiane Amanpour to Jeremy Bowen are protesting his win by sharing their harrowing stories from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The Austrian writer, whose stance on the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s and attendance at Milosevic’s funeral have been widely criticised, is due to receive his Nobel medal in Stockholm, where a large protest demonstration is expected.
Bosnian Swedish writer
Adnan Mahmutovic, who is organising the protests, said there had been a huge
negative response to Handke’s win in Sweden. “We hope that our
voices tonight will help us start a dialogue about the consequences of
continuous genocide denial that has been going on for decades. Genocide is not
an event but a process whose last phase is denial. We cannot let our Nobel
legacy legitimise it,” he said.
Last week Peter
Englund, a member of the Swedish Academy, which selects the winner, announced
he would boycott the ceremony, saying: “To
celebrate Peter Handke’s Nobel prize would be gross hypocrisy on my part”.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed Handke on
television, saying “the Nobel has no value … granting the Nobel literature
prize on Human Rights Day to a figure who denies the genocide in Bosnia and
Herzegovina is nothing less than rewarding human rights violations.” Turkey’s
ambassador to Sweden, Hakki Yunt, also
announced he would not attend the ceremony....
see also
Robert Fisk: In the cases of two separate holocausts, Israel and Poland find it difficult to acknowledge the facts of history / Andre Liebich: On the Polish Holocaust law debate
