Steve Bryant, who has been reporting on the Orhan Pamuk case in Turkey for The Times, says that the Turkish government took advantage of a legal misunderstanding to drop its case against the renowned novelist, who faced imprisonment for "publicly denigrating" his country

"This case was becoming an embarrassment for the Government, in Europe, at home, everywhere. The way they resolved it today was really through a convenient misunderstanding. The court trying Pamuk went to the Ministry of Justice asking permission to try him. The ministry said: actually, you don't need permission from us. The court took that to mean that there was no case for him to answer and the trial collapsed.

"Really the Government took advantage of the confused state of the Turkish legal code, which has been reformed and updated and changed so many times - mostly recently to bring it into line with Copenhagen criteria for Turkey's membership of the EU - to create a nice mistake.

"As for Orhan Pamuk, he's not a very popular individual in Turkey. He's regarded as aloof, an intellectual who prefers to spend his time with Swedish human rights campaigners rather than Turks. So there's very little personal sympathy for him. That said, most people here thought it was ridiculous that he should face the possibility of going to jail for criticising Turkey.

"What is perhaps hard for international observers to understand is the depth of feeling among extremist Turkish nationalists on issues like the Kurds and the murder of the Armenians after the First World War.

"Also, the fact that Pamuk made his comments in a Swiss newspaper, annoyed the nationalists even more. There is a feeling that one can criticise Turkey at home, among your friends, even in Turkey, but to go abroad, to Europe and say these things, that made them furious.

"It's important to remember that although the case against Pamuk was dropped today, Article 301, the law he broke, remains on the books. The crime of publicly denigrating Turkey, whatever that means, still exists. Pamuk was the showpiece trial, but several other writers and academics remain charged for the same crime and there's no sign that their cases will be dismissed."

Times Recommends

• Thousands of Tamils dying in 'welfare camp'
• Jackson 'rebuilt his nose before he died'
• Renewed Iran protests crushed by militia