ANKARA, Dec 17: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended on Saturday author Orhan Pamuk’s right to free speech, but rejected European Union pressure on Ankara in the controversial trial of the internationally renowned novelist.

“My stance on freedom of thought is clear because I myself have become a victim in this context,” Mr Erdogan was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency in the central city of Konya. “We are against anything restricting freedom of thought.”

He said, however, that the EU, which sees Mr Pamuk’s trial as a test of Turkey’s commitment to democracy and human rights, ‘is trying to put our judiciary under pressure’, Anatolia reported.

“This is wrong,” Mr Erdogan said. “Either right or wrong, the case is now before the justice... Let’s see the outcome and then make comments.”

Mr Pamuk, Turkey’s best-known writer and winner of many international awards, appeared before a court in Istanbul on Friday on charges of denigrating Turkish national identity for telling a Swiss magazine that ‘one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares talk about it’.

The case was adjourned to February to await a decision by the justice ministry, whose authorization is needed to proceed with the trial.

European Parliament members attended the hearing and criticized the government for having failed to halt the trial, drawing Mr Erdogan’s anger.

“The coming of EU parliamentarians during the course of the trial is in fact pressure on the judiciary,” he said. “They have no such right.”

Mr Erdogan has defended freedom of speech, citing his own conviction for ‘inciting religious hatred’ by reciting a poem with Islamic messages during a political rally in 1997, which earned him a four-month stint in prison.

Turkey began EU membership talks on Oct 4, but critics say the country has yet to fully embrace the bloc’s democracy norms despite the far-reaching reforms it has already undertaken.

Brussels has warned Ankara the talks would be suspended in the case of persistent breaches of democracy and human rights.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul called on the EU not to judge Turkey’s record by a single case.

“Let’s not be unfair towards Turkey,” he told the Sabah daily.—AFP