Merkel is now accused of pandering to Erdogan's autocratic government

It sparked a request for prosecution from Turkey which has been accepted

He read out a so-called 'Defamatory Poem' about Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Chancellor Angela Merkel has authorised criminal proceedings sought by Turkey against a German comedian over a crude satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Inflaming a bitter row over free speech, she said Germany's judiciary would now have to decide if Jan Boehmermann could be convicted under rarely-enforced lese-majeste legislation.

However, in a hastily organised press conference, she also vowed the law would be scrapped by 2018 as a result of the embarrassing affair.

A probe under section 103 of the criminal code - insulting organs or representatives of foreign states - can only go forward with the approval of the federal government.

German comedian Jan Bohermann, pictured, has insulted the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan

President Erdogan, pictured, has demanded Bohermann is prosecuted over the insulting poem

Her decision has exposed rifts within her own government and left her open to critics who have accused her of pandering to Erdogan's increasingly autocratic government.

'The government will give its authorisation in the case at hand,' Merkel told reporters live on national television.

The offence can carry a punishment of up to three years in prison.

Ankara this month filed a formal request for a criminal inquiry to be launched in Germany against Boehmermann, who accused Erdogan of bestiality and paedophilia in the so-called 'Defamatory Poem'.

Boehmermann gleefully admitted he was flouting Germany's legal limits on free expression, but has kept a lower profile since the furore erupted.

The comedian was reacting to Ankara's decision last month to summon Germany's ambassador in protest at another satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language.

Merkel - who had previously labelled Boehmermann's poem 'deliberately insulting' - had pledged Turkey's request would be 'very carefully' examined, even as she underlined the German constitution's guarantees of 'freedom of expression, academia and of course the arts'.

On Friday she said her government, after heated internal debate, had concluded that only the judiciary should decide whether Boehmermann had committed a criminal offence.

'In a state under the rule of law, it is not a matter for the government but rather for state prosecutors and courts to weigh personal rights issues and other concerns affecting press and artistic freedom,' she said.

Merkel stressed that Berlin's decision did not amount to a 'prejudgement' on his legal culpability and that 'prosecutors and courts' would have the last word.

German prosecutors last week opened a preliminary probe against Boehmermann, 35, after complaints by dozens of viewers.

The case comes at an extremely awkward time as Europe is relying on Ankara to implement a pact spearheaded by Merkel to curb the flow of migrants taking boats headed for the EU from Turkey's shores.

It exposed Merkel to criticism she was compromising basic values to win Erdogan's continued cooperation on the refugee issue.