Article 301 of the Turkish penal code criminalises the "public denigration" of Turkishness, the Turkish Republic, the Grand National Assembly, the government, judiciary, military and security services. All this would be bad enough in itself. But the terms of the law are so broad as to be applicable to just about any opinion critical of the establishment. Since its introduction last year, more than 60 writers have been charged under the law. With few of them having the benefit of Pamuk's or Shafak's high profile.

At today's session in court, the the prosecutor used his power under the law to request an acquittal, saying that no crime had been committed, to which the judge concurred.

The EU has warned Turkey that prosecuting writers who express their opinion is hurting its bid for membership of the 25-member bloc. Mainly-Muslim Turkey began the decade-long accession process on Oct. 3, pledging to strengthen human rights.

``I'm happy for Elif Shafak, but the demand to abolish article 301 is still there,'' Joost Lagendijk, a Dutch member of the European Parliament who attended today's trial, said in a telephone interview. ``Each court case brought on the basis of article 301 is a victory for those who don't want Turkey in the EU.''

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``Writers should be answered in writing, not treated like armed criminals,'' Shafak told NTV television today after the case was dismissed.

Not everyone was jubilant at the news though. The Union of Jurists, a group of ultra-nationalist lawyers, led by Kemal Kerincsiz, which has had a hand in a number of other related prosecutions, among them the one directed at Pamuk, were not pleased at the development.

They had organised a protest outside the court, brandishing EU flags with swastikas. For them the risk that the case, and ones like it, could jeopardise Turkey's chances of eventually joining the EU, which has become a source of controversy in later years, was simply an added bonus.

``We believe it's our responsibility to bring Elif Shafak and others who curse our national values to justice,'' said Kerincsiz in a telephone interview. ``We would be very pleased if this meant the EU didn't take us.''