Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to send observers to the trial in Turkey of 108 politicians for involvement in protests that occurred in 2014; and if not, why not.

The Government is closely monitoring this trial, and consistently reminds Turkey that we expect its government to undertake any legal processes or actions against members of opposition groups fairly, transparently and with full respect for the rule of law.

Whilst the British Embassy in Ankara regularly sends representatives to attend high-profile trials in Turkey, joining representatives from like-minded countries, we are not planning to do so on this occasion because of restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We will continue to raise our human rights concerns with the Turkish government. The Minister for the European Neighbourhood and the Americas did so most recently with her Turkish counterpart on 21 April.