Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Turkish counterpart on the recent arrest of Kurdish human rights lawyers.

We are concerned by reports of the arrests of Kurdish human rights lawyers. Ministers and our Ambassador to Turkey regularly emphasise to the Turkish Government the need to respect human rights, and to support the rule of law. We will continue to engage the Turkish Government on these issues and be clear in our expectation that Turkey live up to its human rights obligations, which is essential to the long-term health of Turkish democracy.

We shall continue to monitor the situation closely and maintain our support for legitimate and democratic Kurdish groups in Turkey.