Mogherini Calls Ambassadors' Meeting After Detention of Turkish Lawmakers

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier on Friday, dozens of members of parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), including its co-chairs Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, were reportedly arrested across the country.

"Extremely worried for arrest of @hdpdemirtas & other @HDPgenelmerkezi MPs. In contact w/ authorities Called EU ambassadors meeting in Ankara," Mogherini said via Twitter.

In May, the Turkish parliament voted to strip lawmakers of parliamentary immunity. Pro-Kurdish members of the parliament said the law specifically targeted them because of their political views and would lead to deprivation of immunity and prosecution on alleged links to Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK), outlawed in Turkey. In August, the Turkish prosecutor’s office said that Demirtas could face up to five years in prison for PKK propaganda.

Tensions between Ankara and the Turkish Kurds escalated in July 2015 when a ceasefire between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) collapsed over a series of terrorist attacks, allegedly committed by PKK members.