EU concerned over Turkish crackdown on journalists and academics

The European Union has strong concerns over the large number of journalists and academics who are still being detained in Turkey, the EU's commissioner for candidate countries said on Thursday, after talks with the Turkish foreign minister.

Johannes Hahn made the comment at a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and the EU's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, in Ankara.

Mogherini said she had expressed strong concerns in talks with Cavusoglu about the recent detentions of academics, and said she hoped the detained pro-Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas, would be released soon.