Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk has fled his home country of Turkey and is now living in exile in the United States, reports say.

Pamuk, the author of Snow and My Name is Red, is believed to have received death threats, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.

Orhan Pamuk, seen in 2005, is believed to have had more than one death threat.
(Associated Press)

He recently cancelled a speaking tour he had lined up in Germany. At that time he was said to be living with a 24-hour security detail.

Last month, a Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor who had written about the the 1915 killings of Armenians in Turkey was slain.

Turkey has strongly denied Armenian claims that about 1.5 million of their people were killed systematically by Ottoman Turks in a genocide.

Pamuk was charged with "insulting Turkishness" after he gave an interview to a German newspaper in 2005 that mentioned those killings. He was acquitted on a technicality.

Parmuk's growing international stature after winning the Nobel Prize win has likely made him a high-profile target.

Pamuk flew to the New York on Feb. 1 to begin a lecture tour of American universities, the Tribune reported, and he is unlikely to return to Turkey.

People close to Pamuk have declined to comment because of the "sensitivity of Pamuk's position."

Pamuk's writing career has been dedicated to examining Turkish society and the relationship between ancient traditions and modern life.