EU envoys meet at urgent meeting on HDP detentions

ANKARA

European Union envoys in Ankara met on Nov. 4, under the head of the EU delegation to Turkey, over People’s Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs, lawmakers are detained as part of “terrorism” investigations.

The ambassadors of EU member states are believed to be discussing a joint stance against the detentions, which they fear threaten further instability for the country.

The detentions were conducted as part of investigations carried out by prosecutor’s offices in the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakır and Şırnak and the eastern provinces of Hakkari, Van and Bingöl.

In addition to HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, Şırnak deputies Ferhat Encü and Leyla Birlik, Hakkari deputies Selma Irmak and Abdullah Zeydan, Diyarbakır deputies İdris Baluken, Nursel Aydoğan, Ziya Pir and İmam Taşçıer, Ankara deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder and Mardin deputy Gülser Yıldırım were taken into custody by the police.