Paul Auster: Unlike Turkey, Israel Has Free Speech
Noted American Paul Auster author defended his decision to refuse a Turkey visit over the limits the country places on free speech on Wednesday, after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused him of having double standards for visiting Israel.
On Tuesday, Erdogan branded the acclaimed novelist as ignorant on Tuesday for refusing to visit Turkey in protest at the jailing of journalists, saying: “If you come so what? If you don’t come, so what? Will Turkey lose prestige?”
“Supposedly Israel is a democratic, secular country, a country where freedom of expression and individual rights and freedoms are limitless. What an ignorant man you are,” Erdogan said, adding: “This gentleman can’t see the repression and rights violations in Israel… This is serious disrespect to Turkey.”
In a statement released on Wednesday and published in the New York Times’ Arts Beat blog, the American author defended his decision to stay away from Turkey, saying that whatever “the Prime Minister might think about the state of Israel, the fact is that free speech exists there and no writers or journalists are in jail.”
“According to the latest numbers gathered by PEN, there are nearly one hundred writers imprisoned in Turkey, not to speak of independent International publishers such as Ragip Zarakolu, whose case is being closely watched by PEN Centers around the world,” Auster added.
In reference to Erdogan claims that Auster was willing to visit Israel even though it “rained bombs down on Gaza,” the American author said: “All countries are flawed and beset by myriad problems, Mr. Prime Minister, including my United States, including your Turkey.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
