02/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 1 September PanayotisBeglitis MEP asked a written question of the Council and Commission after he learned that the courts in Istanbul had launched criminal investigations against novelist Orhan Pamuk for 'insulting the Turkish identity' because he dared to suggest in a Swiss newspaper that Turkey had to recognise that a million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds had been killed by Turks and Turkey had to make peace with its past. This is a violation of the Copenhagen political criteria, explains Beglitis in a press release, adding that the trial is due to begin on 16 December 2005 and could lead to six to nine months in prison according to the Penal Code.