11/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, has written to the Turkish ambassador to the EU, Nihat Akyol, to express the EP's deeply-held concern about the trial (which began on April 5 (Dijarbakir) against thirteen teenagers who are being investigated for having participated in an illegal demonstration. Mme Fontaine in particular stresses the need to respect the letter and the spirit of the international conventions on the protection of childhood, and deems the affair all the more serious as just a few days ago Ankara adopted a national programme in which it is committed to undertake significant reforms, notably in criminal matters. The Euro-MP from Pasok Myrsini Zorba had drawn Mme Fontaine's attention to this trial.