more on Turkish literature and Article 301

I was reading the list of Most Anticipated Books of 2007 from the Boston Globe , only to run across another Turkish book that i forgot was coming out, Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul. Actually, i don't think it comes out in March. Amazon has it listed as released January 18th, and i could swear that i shelved this book in the past two weeks. (I was in a hurry, and don't examine closely every book i shelve.) When i turn in Tales from the Town of Widows today, i'll see if it's there.

I'm curious as to how big the subplot about the Armenian genocide is. In comparison, i noticed in just the first chapter, Livaneli made a reference to it. He doesn't call it genocide explicitly, but it's hard to miss:

The old farmhouse, which was large enough to accommodate all the members of the family, had originally belonged to an Armenian named Johannes, who was remembered affectionately by the villagers for his willingness to lend a helping hand. One day soldiers had come and ordered all the Armenians to collect whatever belongings they could carry and assemble on the outskirts of the village. Frightened and weeping, the Armenians obeyed and were led off, casting backward glances as they trudged away from the village. Not one of them returned. According to rumor, the soldiers had taken them to a distant land, yet nobody dared to say this aloud. Some of the Armenians had entrusted their valuables to their Muslim neighbors, hoping to come back to retrieve them. Decades has passed, and no one had ever returned.

I guess that it's okay to write about the deportations, and the ultranationalists charging people under Article 301 only react when the killings are explicitly acknowledged.