AP Worldstream; Jan 02, 2006 Turkey's Cabinet on Monday was discussing whether to drop charges against novelist Orhan Pamuk _ a case the European Union has criticized as a threat to freedom of _expression. Pamuk was charged under a law that makes insulting Turkey a crime after a Swiss newspaper in February quoted him as saying: "30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands, and nobody but me dares to talk about it." The Justice Ministry _ which has the final say in whether to proceed with a trial _ said it would invite discussion of the case during the weekly Cabinet meeting. European officials have demanded Turkey drop the case against Pamuk and do more to protect freedom of _expression. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul acknowledged the case had tarnished the country's image abroad, and said that laws limiting freedom of _expression may be changed. The trial was halted by a judge on Dec. 16, the day it began. Pamuk's remarks referred to two of the most painful episodes in recent Turkish history: the massacre of Armenians during World War I, which Turkey insists was not a planned genocide, and recent guerrilla fighting in Turkey's overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast. Many Turkish nationalists found Pamuk's remarks especially upsetting because they were made to a foreign newspaper.
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