18/01/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 18 January, the EU spoke of its deep concern at the summing up by the Diyarbakir prosecutor's office in south-eastern Turkey, calling for 142 years' imprisonment for the co-leader of the HDP People's Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtaş, who is accused of being part of the PKK. Stating that the EU had publicly shared its concerns at the arrest and detention of HDP deputies in November 2016 (see EDD 935), Maja Kocijancic, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service, said that "these concerns continued to exist". This "compromises parliamentary democracy and worsens a situation that is already very tense in the south-east of the country for which, in our opinion, there can only be a political solution", she added. Kocijancic called on Turkey to protect its parliamentary democracy, "including human rights and the rule of law". (CG)