ALTUĞ TANER AKÇAM v. TURKEY JUDGMENT 5 2. Sample decisions submitted by the Government 22. In an annex to their observations, the Government have furnished the Court with sample copies of non-prosecution decisions issued by public prosecutors and judgments of acquittal given by criminal courts in cases concerning prosecutions under Article 159/1 of the former Criminal Code and Article 301 of the new Criminal Code. In particular, the suspects were mainly accused of insulting or denigrating the army, the security forces, the judiciary or the Republic. 23. In these decisions and judgments, given between 2005 and 2008, the prosecuting authorities either dropped the charges against the suspects, considering that the necessary elements of the crime in question were not present, or terminated the proceedings on the grounds that the Ministry of Justice had refused permission to prosecute the suspects. In acquitting the suspects, the criminal courts relied on the case-law of the European Court in cases concerning Article 10 of the Convention. 24. The above-mentioned documents furnished by the Government included two judgments given by the Beyoğlu and Şişli Criminal Courts in respect of two prominent writers, namely Elif Şafak and Orhan Pamuk. 25. In the criminal proceedings against Elif Şafak the Beyoğlu Criminal Court had examined a criminal complaint filed by a group of lawyers and an association called the Turkish World and Culture and Human Rights Association of Izmir, who alleged that Elif Şafak had denigrated “Turkishness” as a result of statements about the Armenian issue in her book entitled “Baba ve Piç” (“The Bastard of Istanbul” in English). In a judgment dated 21 September 2006, the court acquitted Elif Şafak, holding that the book in question was fiction and that the impugned statements made by the characters in the novel could not be taken as constituting an offence of denigrating Turkishness. Having examined the novel written by the accused, the court concluded that the statements contained in the book should be examined in the context of freedom of expression. The court, however, observed that the limits of the concept of “Turkishness” should be determined and based on a solid ground by the legislator. It further remarked that opinions should only be compared with opinions. Otherwise, one could not talk of freedom of opinion and expression and would be forced to adopt uniform thoughts. 26. In the case brought against Orhan Pamuk, the Şişli Criminal Court had examined a criminal complaint lodged by two individuals who alleged that the writer had denigrated Turkishness in a speech he had given abroad. In a judgment dated 20 January 2006, the court decided to discontinue the proceedings on the ground that the requisite permission to press charges against the accused had not been obtained from the Ministry of Justice. It thus ruled that the lack of permission should be considered as a refusal and that the proceedings should be terminated.