Turkey is no longer as poor as it once was - Orhan Pamuk

Turkey is no longer as poor as it once was; it is no longer a peasant society ruled by its army, Turkish historian and winner of Nobel Prize Orhan Pamuk has said in an article published in The Guardian.

"It is a dynamic nation with a strong civil society," the Turkish scholar writes.

He further speaks of the strained relations between Turkey and the European Union, particularly mentioning: "A major cause of the strain in relations between Turkey and the EU was most certainly the alliance forged by a sector of the Turkish army and leading media groups with nationalist political parties, and their successful campaign to sabotage negotiations. The same initiative triggered the prosecutions launched against me and many writers, the shooting of others, and the killing of missionaries and Christian clerics."