18/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - EU condemns arrest of academics. The European Union issued strong condemnation on Saturday 16 January of the arrest of a group of some 20 Turkish academics who had signed a petition, which gathered the support of 1,200 intellectuals, calling for an end to army operations against the Kurdish uprising in the south-east of the country. The arrests “are an extremely worrying development”, states the spokesperson for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. While the academics are no longer under detention, the procedures against them are ongoing. They are accused of participating in terrorist propaganda and insulting state institutions and the Turkish Republic. They face five years in prison. The spokesperson stated, too, that the EU condemned all forms of terrorist attacks, including by the PKK, and the attack on the police headquarters in Cinar on 14 January which claimed six lives and which has been attributed to Kurdish rebels. (CG)