an almost limitless discretionary power to the Turkish executive to apply sweeping misure against NGOs, the media and the public sector. Specifically, many NGOs were closed, the media organizations seized or shut down and public sector employees as well as journalists and media workers arrested or intimidated. Article 299 Article 299 is a provision in the Turkish Penal Code that criminalizes insulting the President of Turkey. The article has been part of Turkey's penal code since 1926, but had rarely been used before Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's becoming president. The article states: (1) The person who insults the President shall be punished by imprisonment from 1 year to 4 years. (2) If the crime is committed publicly, the punishment will be increased by 1/6. (3) For this crime to be prosecuted, the permission of the Justice Ministry shall be necessary. The article has been widely used to suppress freedom of expression and as per the Stockholm Center for Freedom, thousands have been imprisoned since 2014 when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became president. In 2019 alone, more than 36,000 people including 318 minors between the ages 12 and 17 faced criminal investigations for "insulting" Erdoğan. According to human rights lawyer Kerem Altıparmak, over 100,000 Turkish citizens have been investigated and over 30,000 court cases been opened under this provision. The list of persons includes human rights activists, members of parliament, lawyers, journalists, TV show actors, students, writers, artists, cartoonists, ordinary citizens and even minors below the age of 17. Turkey's article 299 and article 125, which allows one party to sue for insult despite lack of sufficient evidence, are arguably used as strategic lawsuit against public participation, known internationally as SLAPP. Article 301 Article 301 is a provision in the Turkish penal code that, since 2005 made it a punishable offense to insult Turkishness or various official Turkish institutions. Charges were brought in more than 60 cases, some of which were high-profile. The article was amended in 2008, including changing "Turkishness" into "the Turkish nation", reducing maximum prison terms to 2 years, and making it obligatory to get the approval of the Minister of Justice before filing a case. Changes were deemed "largely cosmetic" by Freedom House, although the number of prosecutions dropped. Although only few persons were convicted, trials under Art. 301 are seen by human rights watchdogs as a punitive measure in themselves, as time-consuming and expensive, thus exerting a chilling