Turkey's parliament approved a long-awaited revision of a law criticised by the European Union for limiting free speech in the candidate country, but writers and activists say the reform does not go far enough.

State news agency Anatolian said the reform to article 301 of the penal code was approved early on Wednesday with 250 votes for and 65 against amid fierce criticism from the nationalist opposition.

The article has been used to prosecute hundreds of writers, including Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk, for "insulting Turkishness".

After the reform, it will be a crime to insult the Turkish nation, rather than Turkishness, and the justice minister's permission will be required to open a case. The maximum sentence will be cut to two years from three.

But writers and publishers fear they will continue to face frequent trials as they argue that the changes are minor while other laws restricting freedom of expression remain intact.

Brussels had also given a lukewarm response to the reform. On a recent trip to Turkey, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was a step in the right direction.

The EU has said easing restrictions on free speech is a test of Turkey's commitment to political reform as Ankara looks to advance slow-moving membership talks which began in 2005.

Defending the reform against criticism from the opposition, Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin said there would still be restrictions on insulting Turkey.

"With this change, it is not a question of letting people insult Turkishness freely," he told parliament.

NATIONALIST OPPOSITION

The reform has been controversial in Turkey, where nationalism has grown in recent years along with disillusionment with the EU. The bill, passed after eight hours of mostly late-night debate, had been delayed several times amid stiff opposition from nationalists.

Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink, who was shot dead by an ultra-nationalist youth last year, had been convicted under article 301.

Turkey's far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) accused the government of betraying the country's identity, and instead pandering to EU demands that it reform laws prohibiting Turks from insulting their nation.

MHP leader Devlet Bahceli told a meeting of his party ahead of the vote the reform would be a "historical mistake".

"Slandering Turkey's honourable history, insulting the Turkish nation and the values of Turkishness has become a habit with the AK Party's political thinking, which lacks a sense of identity," he said.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also opposed the reform. The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), whose members often end up in court for expressing views on the Kurdish issue, wanted to abolish the article.

Article 301 has notably been used against writers such as Pamuk for comments on the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-16. Turkey denies claims by Armenians and many Western historians that the killings constituted genocide.