Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk and an ethnic Armenian journalist who was shot dead last month.

On Friday, 10 members of the small Powerful Turkey Party (party manifesto) plan to gather in a public place in Istanbul and repeat statements by Pamuk and Hrant Dink, the slain journalist, that were presented as evidence in separate lawsuits brought against the two men under Article 301, which bans insults to Turkish identity.

The activists will then turn themselves over to prosecutors, and another 10 activists will repeat the procedure next week as part of the campaign.

"We will try and choke the judicial system with 301 cases," party leader Tuna Beklevic said. "The campaign will continue until 301 is changed."

Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the campaign.

Pamuk and Dink were prosecuted under the law that makes denigrating Turkish identity a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. Both had spoken out about the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century, an issue that remains sensitive today. Numerous other writers, journalists and academics have also been prosecuted.

Dink, the editor of the minority Agos newspaper, was shot outside his Istanbul office on Jan. 19 and his murder has revived a debate about the law. Many said his prosecution under Article 301 had made him a target for radical nationalists. Tens of thousands turned out for his funeral, but many other Turks viewed him as an irritant whose commentaries were objectionable.

Turkey, which aspires to join the European Union, has come under pressure to amend the law. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has said the law is damaging Turkey's image by portraying it as a country where intellectuals are jailed for speaking their opinions.

Critics say the government is moving too slowly, possibly because it faces presidential and parliamentary elections this year against a backdrop of rising nationalism.

Earlier this month, a group of trade unions and other non-governmental organizations proposed new wording for the article, but many opponents want it scrapped altogether.

"We don't want a dark Turkey where there is no freedom of thought," said Beklevic, who plans to take part in the protest on Friday. "We will tell the prosecutors: we committed a crime, come and prosecute us."

The party, founded just four months ago, has a few thousand members across the country of 70 million, Beklevic said.