Summary
Orhan Pamuk, novelist of the new Turkey
Submerged in his new novel, Turkey's Nobel prize laureate Orhan Pamuk gazes out over Istanbul – the main protagonist of his books – keeping a troubled eye over his country.
Taking pains to speak in precise and accurate English, Pamuk said his last published novel, "A Strangeness in My Mind," was an attempt to show a changing Istanbul through the eyes of one character.
Reluctant to be seen as a political figure, Pamuk remains unequivocally critical of Erdogan, who has boasted of transforming the country into a "new Turkey" with ambitious building projects.
Pamuk leaves Turkey every year to teach for a semester at New York's Columbia University and said he could sense the change when he returned last.
Erdogan and the AKP have dominated Turkey's highly diverse society for over a decade but have been facing unprecedented challenges after 2013's mass protests, followed by stunning corruption allegations against the elite.
In typical Pamuk style, it is an allegory, telling the story of an Istanbul well digger and his apprentice.
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