European Commission urges Turkey to release human rights defenders

The European Commission (EC) urged Turkey to immediately release a group of human rights defenders who were placed under arrest on Tuesday, the EC official representative Margaritis Schinas said.

"Regarding the arrest of a group of human rights activists, we find this an alarming news, that continues a deeply worrying pattern of imprisonments of a large number of journalists, human rights defenders and representatives of the democratic opposition in Turkey. We call for an immediate release of these people," Margaritis Schinas noted.

At the same time, he stressed that the European Commission does not share Berlin's position on the revision of the economic policy towards Ankara.

"The funding directed by the European Union to Turkey is intended for well prescribed and designed areas that relate to common interests, and all funding decisions are decided  jointly by the member states," he added.