Orhan Pamuk in the winner's circle at the Nobel Prize ceremony

When a Turkish court brought criminal charges against Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk in 2005 for “public denigration of Turkish identity” over public remarks he made acknowledging that the Armenian genocide was a historical fact, worldwide condemnation of the case eventually prompted the government to drop the charges.

Now, according to a report by Erol Onderoglu for the Turkish news service Obianet, Turkey’s Supreme Court has ruled that a group of six citizens offended by Pamuk’s comments can nonetheless sue him for compensation. They’re seeking 36,000 Turkish liras (or $23,000) apiece.

According to the report, “The Supreme Court pointed out that according to Article 66 of the Constitution, ‘Everyone connected to the Turkish State with the bond of citizenship is Turkish’, and that just as individuals had honour, feelings of belonging to a nation were also part of personal values.”

In a report in The Guardian, Pamuk’s English translator, Maureen Freely, says, “I’d be very surprised if he had to pay damages and very surprised to find this judgment sticks …. It’s been clear right from the beginning that the purpose of the original prosecution wasn’t to put him in prison, but was just to get publicity … anything which keeps his name in the papers, or the names of other well known 301 defendants in the papers, is going to give oxygen to nationalist publicity.”

One thing that could hinder the case: One of the six people bringing the case against Pamuk, lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, is himself now a detained defendant in, charged with beng a member of the Ergenekon criminal syndicate.