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Istanbul: "Happy is he who says: 'I am a Turk'."
The nationalist motto was coined by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Its display in schools, hospitals and military barracks helps explain why Turkey is struggling to meet a key demand for membership in the European Union: overhaul of a law that bars insults to Turkish identity.
On Friday, a parliamentary justice panel began debating a government proposal to soften Article 301 of Turkey's penal code, which has been used to prosecute Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and other intellectuals. Europe says the law should be abolished because it restricts freedom of speech.
The governing party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to approve the amendment of Article 301 when parliament votes, possibly as early as Tuesday.
Cengiz Aktar, an EU expert at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, said he believed the expected amendment would have a "minimal" impact on Turkey's bid to join the European club. He also noted there were at least 20 other articles in Turkey's penal code that have "the same mentality of killing freedom of speech".
Under Article 301, the maximum sentence for denigrating Turkish identity or insulting the country's institutions is three years in prison. The government proposal would reduce the time to two years, triggering a suspension for first-time offenders.
Under the plan, the president would have to approve prosecutions under Article 301.
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