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Top novelist acquitted in Turkey Top novelist acquitted in Turkey
(40 minutes later)
A court in Istanbul has acquitted the best-selling Turkish novelist, Elif Safak, who had been accused of insulting "Turkishness". A court in Istanbul has acquitted the best-selling Turkish novelist, Elif Shafak, who had been accused of insulting "Turkishness".
Ms Safak, 35, had faced charges for comments made by her characters on the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Ms Shafak, 35, had faced charges for comments made by her characters on the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Turkey rejects Armenia's claim that the killings constituted "genocide".Turkey rejects Armenia's claim that the killings constituted "genocide".
The court in Istanbul had been under pressure from the EU to find Ms Safak not guilty, a BBC correspondent says. The EU has been urging Turkey to abolish a controversial law that makes it a crime to insult the Turkish state.
The trial was seen by the EU as a test of freedom of expression in Turkey, which began membership talks with the 25-member bloc last October.
Scuffles
The proceedings lasted just 40 minutes and ended in utter chaos, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports.
The judges said they based their decision on lack of evidence to prove that Ms Shafak "denigrated the Turkish national identity" in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul.
If Article 301 will be interpreted in this way nobody can write novels in Turkey anymore, no-one can make movies any more Elif Shafak
Ms Shafak - who has recently given birth to her first child - was not present at the hearing.
The nationalist lawyers who brought the case under Article 301 of Turkey's penal code walked out in anger shortly after the trial opened.
They claimed the court and judges had been unduly influenced by the EU.
Riot police moved in to stop scuffles between nationalists and leftists outside the courthouse.
'Autonomy of art'
One of the lawyers who filed the complaint against Ms Shafak had claimed that her novel was Armenian propaganda, dripping with hatred for the Turks.
One of the novel's characters speaks of "Turkish butchers" and a "genocide", while others talk about being "slaughtered like sheep".
Ms Shafak was the latest in a long line of writers to face similar charges in Turkey. But this was the first time Article 301 had been used against a work of fiction.
"If Article 301 will be interpreted in this way nobody can write novels in Turkey anymore, no-one can make movies any more," Ms Shafak told the BBC before the trial.
"The words of a character could be used as evidence against the author or the film director. I think it is extremely important to defend the autonomy of art, and of literature," she said.