The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation against MP Sezgin Tanrıkulı of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) because of his social media posts about the Armenian Genocide, Bianet reports.

The MP is under investigation for "insulting the Turkish nation and the state of the Republic of Turkey" as per article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

Prosecutors opened the investigation because "there was concrete evidence" that Tanrıkulu had "insulted the legal person of the state of the Republic of Turkey."

On Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24, Tanrıkulu wrote on Twitter: "107 years ago, on April 24, 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals were detained in İstanbul, exiled to Çankırı, Ayaş and Ankara, and forcibly disappeared. Without confronting this date, which is the milestone of evil, true justice cannot be achieved."

Under Article 301, a person "who publicly denigrates the Turkish Nation, the State of the Turkish Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the judicial institutions of the State shall be punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years." However, "expressions of thought intended to criticize shall not constitute a crime."