In 2005, he faced criminal charges because of comments he made in an interview. In the interview, Pamuk said about Armenian Genocide, "Thirty thousand Kurds, and a million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody dares to talk about it." Pamuk faced a hate campaign and he had to flee the country. The charges were dropped in early 2006 under an influence of international movement of Amnesty International and European Parliament.