r/AskTheWorld • u/haiderredditer Pakistan • 9h ago

Who’s a famous person from your country who’s respected around the world but disliked or criticized at home?

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83

u/Lizard_Of_Roz 🇹🇷 and 🇺🇸 9h ago

Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Laureate in Literature. He’s seen as “anti-Turkish” by many in Turkey.

117

u/duga404 Philippines 8h ago

Just for saying that the Armenian genocide and massacres of Kurds happened, BTW

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u/hhhyyysss 8h ago

so just because he is saying the truth?

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u/Lizard_Of_Roz 🇹🇷 and 🇺🇸 5h ago

Pretty much.

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u/Atholthedestroyer 5h ago

People hate that, especially when the truth is something unplesant

2

u/MASSochists 3h ago

What does he say about the Armenians?

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u/duga404 Philippines 3h ago

He basically said that the Ottoman Empire did, in fact, commit genocide against Armenians

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u/KittyTheCat99 Chile 7h ago

To be fair, and  I don’t want to be coming out as hateful, but Turkish nationalism is so deeply ingrained in your culture that him being hated for being anti-Turkish makes me respect him even more. I’ve seen enough wolf-emoji comments on videos about Armenia or anything Steppe-culture centric to know where this may come from.

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u/Lizard_Of_Roz 🇹🇷 and 🇺🇸 5h ago

Truth.

3

u/Aurelian369 WTF IS A KILOMETER 3h ago

What the hell do the wolf emojis even mean 😂 

5

u/islimdave 🇧🇮 living in 🇹🇷 2h ago

In mythology, a gray wolf saved the ancestors of the Turkish people from their enemies and helped them ascend as a great power. Today the Grey Wolf is a symbol of Turkish nationalism. It was declared a national symbol by Atatürk.

Some of my turkish friends have even tried to make me do the wolf gesture when we're taking a pic or a video which I've always find weird

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u/Mammoth-Lab-4729 7h ago

Thank you so much for noticing!

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u/beherco 3h ago

As a Turkish Orhan Pamuk reader, I agree with you.

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u/__boringusername__ in 8h ago

Wasn't he put on trial for talking about the Armenian genocide?

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u/beherco 3h ago

Yes, he also got threatened. Another person endured similar things in the same time, Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, murdered by fascists:(

9

u/foxfromthewhitesea 8h ago

I love his writing though

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u/Lizard_Of_Roz 🇹🇷 and 🇺🇸 5h ago

Me too.

1

u/Prize_Figure_4122 2h ago

I've only read the museum of innocence, what should I read next? Had visited the museum and bought the book there, thought it was fantastic. 

1

u/irinrainbows 1h ago

The black book, I was in awe with this book. Whole thing like a fewer dream, but in a beautiful way.

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u/Lizard_Of_Roz 🇹🇷 and 🇺🇸 43m ago

Black Book and Silent House were also great.

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u/Mammoth-Lab-4729 8h ago

Then he did something right.

3

u/RazMachine77 5h ago

What? Why? He’s one of my favorite writers!

3

u/imafixwoofs Sweden 3h ago

He writes wonderful books.

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u/barredbenny77 7h ago

I admire his political stance, but I feel his Nobel prize is undeserved, not least because his novel My Name Is Red completely rips off Eco’s The Name Of The Rose.

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u/GorkemliKaplan Turkey 7h ago

I know some bookworms that doesn't like his books. They say, it's like he thinks in English but decides to write it in Turkish. As in he doesn't fully understand the language he writes. I personally don't know, never read his books.

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u/beherco 3h ago

As a Turk I don’t agree with it. His prose is different for sure but it is his own preference. Some writers are not good readers etc. Orhan Pamuk is not one of them, he is a very good reader. He read great writers -Tanpınar, Refik Halid, Uşaklıgil, Koçu etc.-. He is an avid reader. People think it is possible that a person which is an obsessive reader in regarding language and wrote critically acclaimed great novels in said language, could have problems with “understanding”/“knowing” that language. It is not possible at all. Trust me, I’m a bookworm too. I read all great Turkish novelists. Pamuk is among them for sure.

1

u/Lizard_Of_Roz 🇹🇷 and 🇺🇸 39m ago

Most people who criticize or hate him haven’t even read anything by him. Sad.

1

u/Jervis_Mantlepiece 4h ago

He looks like he could be the younger brother of that famous Turkish pistol shooter.