EU worried about rule of law in Turkey after new detentions

2 Feb, 2018 14:52 / Updated 6 years ago

The European Union has said it’s worried about the rule of law in EU candidate Turkey after Ankara jailed Amnesty International’s local chairman and Turkish Medical Association members. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Friday that the detentions are the latest “worrying developments undermining the rule of law and independence and impartiality of the judiciary in Turkey,” AP reported. They said that improvements in these areas “remain essential to the prospects of EU-Turkey relations.” Amnesty’s Turkey chairman, Taner Kilic, was arrested again on Thursday. A prosecutor earlier appealed another court’s decision to free him pending a verdict in his trial on terrorism-related charges. The talks on Turkey’s EU accession, which started in 2005, are now at a virtual standstill.