The European Union adjustment committee of Turkish parliament endorsed on April 17 the amendments to a controversial text of the country's Penal Code, used to prosecute intellectuals in the country, Turkish press reported on April 18.

Article 301, long criticised by the EU, which Turkey wants to join, made Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and Armenian-born journalist Hrant Dink subject to legal persecution for their comments on the 1915-1917 mass killings of Armenians. Dink was shot dead by in January 2007 in the office of bilingual newspaper Agos, of which he was the editor-in-chief.

The article made denigrating "Turkish identity" a criminal offence, punishable by up to three years imprisonment. The amendments replace "identity" with "nation" and requires prosecutors to seek the approval of the Turkish president to press charges, daily Huriyet said. Additionally, the maximum prison term is reduced to two years.

Parliament is due to vote on the changes on April 22 at the earliest.