YEREVAN, JANUARY 18, ARMENPRESS. Nobel laureate and author Orhan Pamuk has criticized recent investigations into academics and the detention of some of them after they called on the government to end ongoing military operations in Turkey's Southeast, saying Turkey's democracy is limited to the ballot box and lacks many key components of a democratic regime.

Speaking to the Italian La Repubblica daily on Monday, Pamuk complained about the government's efforts to align academics' views with its decisions, adding: "In such a country, despite the fact that free elections are held, one cannot talk about the existence of a full-fledged democracy. The investigation into some academics and the ensuing detentions because they signed a declaration in order to step up efforts at establishing peace with the country's Kurds harms an already limited democracy."

A total of 1,128 academics from 89 universities, both home and abroad, issued a declaration last Monday in which they called for the restoration of peace in the country. They urged a halt in the ongoing military operations in the southeastern region of Turkey and a return to the negotiating table to restart shelved talks with the Kurds to find peaceful solutions to the Kurdish issue.