The European Union has condemned as "extremely worrying" Turkey's arrest of academics who signed a petition denouncing military operations against Kurdish rebels in the country's southeast.
"The steps taken against the Turkish academics who signed a declaration regarding events in the southeast of Turkey are an extremely worrying development," an EU spokesperson on foreign affairs said in a statement on January 16.
"They are no longer detained, but the procedures against them are ongoing."
Turkish media reported on January 15 that 27 academics accused of terrorist propaganda for signing a declaration titled We Won't Be A Party To This Crime, which urges Ankara to halt "its deliberate massacres and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region."
The academics were questioned for a day before being released, Dogan reported late January 15.
