"It's essential to freely speak of what happened to Armenia in the Ottoman Empire," Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk stated at a press conference in Moscow. At that he added that it's "Turkey's internal affair and the problem of freedom of speech, democracy and at last of the new international policy. When asked when in his opinion Turkey will recognize the Armenian Genocide, Orhan Pamuk voiced hope it will happen as soon as possible and the Turkish society will speak of the problem. To note, during the press conference Pamuk has not uttered word "genocide" even once.

To remind, last year Orhan Pamuk was accused of outraging the Turkish state over the statements on the Armenian Genocide in an interview with a Swiss newspaper. In early 2006 the legal proceeding were stopped.