Turkish author acquitted in rights trial

ISTANBUL, Sep 21 (Reuters) A Turkish judge acquitted a prominent novelist today for insulting the Turkish identity in a case regarded as a fresh test of freedom of expression in the European Union candidate nation.

Chief judge Irfan Adil Uncu cleared Elif Shafak shortly after the trial began because of lack of evidence she had committed an offence under article 301 of the penal code.

The EU, which Turkey hopes to join, welcomed the ruling but a European Commission spokeswoman said the law still posed a significant threat to freedom of expression.

Shafak was not in court after giving birth last weekend. She had faced up to three years in jail if convicted for comments made in her best-selling novel ''The Bastard of Istanbul'' by her fictional characters on the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

''I'm very happy with the outcome but only on a personal basis.

As long as 301 is out there and interpreted or misinterpreted like that there'll be many other cases like this ... This is not the last one,'' she told Reuters from hospital.

Outside the Istanbul court, riot police tried to contain scuffles between dozens of protesters. Nationalists yelled ''break the hand of the traitors'' while young leftists responded with shouts of ''shoulder to shoulder against the fascists''.

Shafak is one of a number of writers, journalists and academics pursued by nationalist prosecutors under article 301, which makes it a crime to insult state institutions or Turkish identity.

The European Commission has repeatedly urged Ankara to abolish the law, saying it violates the principle of freedom of expression and thought.

The government is split over whether to comply, fearing a nationalist backlash ahead of elections next year.

The Muslim country's most famous novelist Orhan Pamuk went on trial earlier this year, also for insulting ''Turkishness''. His case was later dropped on a technicality.

''(In this case) there was more support coming from the government, from the state, the security was much better and secondly from civil society there was a lot of support and especially from the media,'' said Shafak. NATIONALISTS The hearing began with plaintiffs demanding the judge remove foreigners from the court room. European Parliament members and human rights groups representatives attended the trial.

''The judge was under pressure and the verdict was already clear so we withdrew from the case because of that,'' said Ahmet Ulger, one of the plaintiff lawyers who walked out before the trial ended.

Shafak's verdict comes before the EU Commission issues its annual report on Turkey's reform progress on November 8. Brussels is expected to criticise Ankara for the slow pace of reform.

Critics say nationalist-minded lawyers opposed to EU membership are using the justice system to try to harm Turkey's bid. Ankara began EU entry talks last October, but is not seen joining the wealthy bloc before 2015 at the earliest.

Defenders of the status quo say few freedom of expression cases end in jail and they say the judiciary must also respect verdicts of the European Court of Human Rights.

In Shafak's best-selling novel, fictional Armenian characters make disparaging remarks about Turks and refer to a genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

Turkey denies claims that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide. It says Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed in a partisan conflict at that time.

Several more cases involving insulting Turkishness, modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan are due in coming weeks.

Reuters