The parliament is scheduled to discuss amendments to article 301 of the penal code, which currently defines the crime of insulting ‘Turkishness’ or Turkish identity, on Tuesday.
Among the changes proposed by the government are changing the term Turkishness to Turkish nation and requiring approval from the Justice Minister to open a prosecution under the law.
Under the amendments, the maximum sentence for those found guilty of breaching article 301 will be lowered from three years prison to two.
Both the opposition Republican People’s Party and the Nationalist Movement Party oppose the amendments to article 301.
A number of Turkey’s leading writers and intellectuals have been charged under article 301, including Noble Laureate Orhan Pamuk.
