Frankfurt shows cultural relativism knows no bounds

The Frankfurt Book Fair each fall is the industry's most prolific event for foreign rights deals. Evidently the folks at Ausstellungs-und Messe-GmbH (AuM) who run the Fair thought it would be fun to have Turkey be the nation granted the annual "guest of honor" status next year. While Turkey has been a steadfast U.S. ally and NATO member, its track record on free speech is poor. Would Frankfurt have given Turkey this honor if the charges against Orhan Pamuk weren't hastily dropped earlier this year?