Turkey’s Kurdish presidential candidate Demirtas forced to campaign from prison

June 18, 2018 By administrator

Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas is running in the Turkish presidential election — from prison. He may have a huge following in the country, but he has received little coverage in Turkey’s mainstream press.

Selahattin Demirtas, the 45-year-old human rights attorney and former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), is the first presidential candidate in the history of the modern Turkey to organize his election campaign from behind bars. He has been held in pretrial detention for more than a year-and-a-half on terrorism-related charges.

Demirtas has been coordinating his campaign from a prison cell in Edirne in western Turkey, and despite the adverse conditions, he seems headed for a respectable result. An opinion survey by Turkish pollster Sonar in early June gave Demirtas just shy of 8 percent of the vote, ranking him fourth among the presidential candidates.

Campaigning via Twitter

HDP lawmaker Ziya Pir is not surprised by Demirtas’ popularity. “With his candidature, Mr. Demirtas is taking a stand on peace, freedom and democracy — our values,” he said, noting the difficulty of running a campaign from prison.”They won’t let him out, just like thousands of other jailed members of our party,” Pir added. “The government doesn’t want our people to be able to run a campaign.”

Stuck behind bars, Demirtas has turned to social media — mainly Twitter — to communicate with his supporters, dictating 280-character tweets to his lawyers every day. He has nearly 1.7 million followers on the platform, and uses the hashtag #AskDemirtas to respond to questions.

Mainstream media ignore Demirtas

While the campaign is thriving on social media, it doesn’t exist in most traditional Turkish press. Frustrated, Pir said the main problem is that Turkey’s mainstream media for the most part ignore Demirtas: “Last week, [HDP] co-leader Pervin Buldan was interviewed on Fox TV, but other than that, we only exist in niche media, where we can’t reach the masses — so we go from door to door.”

A glimpse at the actual broadcast time allotted to the candidates shows Demirtas’ great disadvantage. CNN Turk and NTV dedicated 70 hours and 13 minutes to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP party during the first two weeks of May alone. Demirtas only appeared on Turkish state TV for the first time on Sunday, in a 10-minute speech allotted to all candidates.

The Kurdish conflict

Demirtas has thrown his hat in the ring for the country’s top office before. In 2014, he garnered almost 10 percent of the vote running against Erdogan, finishing third. Back then, both Erdogan and Demirtas campaigned in Germany, and Demirtas’ greatest problem was already evident — the HDP’s perceived links to the the Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK), a group regarded by the Turkish government and the European Union as a terrorist organization. The armed conflict between PKK and the Turkish state has cost tens of thousands of lives since the early 1980s. Demirtas has repeatedly visited convicted PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in prison.

The PKK and HDP both advocate for greater rights for Turkey’s Kurds and share a similar political base, but Pir stressed that the organizations are independent of one another. “As a party, we have no links to the PKK,” he said. “But for historic reasons, many of our voters show sympathies for the PKK.”

The Kurdish conflict is the reason the HDP isn’t in an alliance with other parties. Nationalist candidate Meral Aksener has clearly ruled out any cooperation with the HDP, for example. As a result, Demirtas has little chance of making it to a runoff with against Erdogan. Should the incumbent not win the presidency outright in the June 24 vote, he will presumably face Aksener or the candidate from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Muharrem Ince, in a runoff on July 8.

It remains to be seen how and even whether Demirtas will be able to continue his political career after the election. If convicted of terrorism-related offenses, he faces up to 142 years in prison.

Jailed HDP presidential candidate Demirtas to file lawsuit against Turkey’s Erdogan

June 2, 2018 By administrator

YEREVAN, JUNE 2, The lawyers of jailed pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) presidential candidate Selahettin Demirtas will file a lawsuit against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Diken reports.

During his remarks on June 1 President Erdogan commented on the appeal of the HDP submitted to the Constitutional Court according to which the party demands to release lawmaker Demirtas. “Release who? The person behind bars has the blood of 53 people on his hands”, Erdogan said as quoted by Ahval news agency.

Demirtas’s lawyers called Erdogan’s remarks as “black propaganda” and attempt to have an impact on the judiciary. The lawyers stated that Erdogan has violated the principle of presumption of innocence. They announced that they launch legal procedures against Erdogan and will file a lawsuit to receive a moral compensation.

Turkey’s jailed Kurdish HDP party leader Demirtas to start hunger strike

March 30, 2017 By administrator

DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey’s Kurdish region,— A jailed co-leader of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party plans to begin a hunger strike Friday to protest “inhumane” conditions at the prison where he is being held, the party said Thursday.

Selahattin Demirtas’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the second-largest opposition party in Turkey, is campaigning against the government’s plan for constitutional changes that would bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

Demirtas and the party’s other leader, Figen Yuksekdag, have been imprisoned along with 11 other HDP lawmakers on accusations of links to Kurdish separatists of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK who have waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

The government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK, a charge that the HDP denies. Thousands of officials from the HDP have been detained since 2015.

In a message relayed by his party, Demirtas said he was striking because officials at the prison, in the northwestern province of Edirne, had refused to discuss what he termed “unlawful practices”.

Several Kurdish convicts jailed in Edirne, as well as in Izmir, Ankara and Van, have already started hunger strike to protest prison conditions.

The HDP is calling for a “no” vote in the April 16 referendum on approving constitutional changes that would create an executive presidency and abolish the post of prime minister.

The government says the changes would provide political stability by avoiding fragile coalition governments, but critics fear it will lead to one-man rule.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population.

A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974, and has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.

Source: http://ekurd.net/turkey-demirtas-hunger-strike-2017-03-30

Turkey’s Kurdish party leader Demirtas given 5-month jail sentence

February 22, 2017 By administrator

ANKARA,— A Turkish court on Tuesday ordered the co-leader of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas to serve five months in jail, in the latest legal blow to the politician.

Demirtas has been held in jail since November on charges of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and making terror propaganda on their behalf.

If found guilty in that case, he risks up to 142 years in jail.

In a separate case, a court in the eastern city of Dogubayazit convicted Demirtas of denigrating the Turkish state and its institutions and sentenced him to five months in jail, state media said.

Demirtas is currently being held at a prison in Edirne, in northwest Turkey, far from the southeastern heartland of the Kurdish movement.

In a separate development, Turkish authorities on Tuesday stripped the other co-leader of the HDP, Figen Yuksekdag, who is also held in jail, of her parliamentary seat.

The move was based on a 2013 conviction for “terror propaganda” which was validated by the top court of appeals in 2016.

According to the Anadolu news agency, the validated conviction was read out by the deputy speaker in the plenary session, which is enough for an MP to lose their seat.

The move means that the number of HDP MPs in the Turkish parliament has now fallen to 58, Anadolu said.

Demirtas and Yuksekdag are among a dozen HDP MPs being held in prison ahead of trial on charges of links with the PKK after being detained last year.

Thousands of officials from the HDP and dozens of lawmaker have been detained since 2015.

The government accuses the HDP of having links to the PKK, a charge that the HDP denies.

The European Union has expressed anger over their detention, calling on Turkey to abide by its obligations under the rule of law.

HDP MP Ahmet Yildirim said that the decision over Yuksekdag “violated the Turkish constitution”, asking why the move did not come immediately after the verdict was approved by the appeals court five months ago.

Source: http://ekurd.net/turkey-kurdish-demirtas-sentence-2017-02-22

Turkey: HDP Co-chair Demirtaş is being overtly tortured in prison: HDP lawmaker

December 7, 2016 By administrator

The co-chair of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is being overtly subjected to torture in prison, a HDP lawmaker has said, commenting on the imprisonment of HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş.

“Isolation is a form of torture and our lawmakers and co-chairs are being overtly subjected to torture,” HDP deputy Meral Danış Beştaş said before visiting Demirtaş in the prison in the northwestern province of Edirne, adding that “lawlessness is being implemented.”

“There is isolation, restrictions and lawlessness in every sense,” she said.

Nine lawmakers from the HDP, as well its co-chairs, Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested on Nov. 4 in a probe that was launched against 14 of the party’s lawmakers over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Saying that Turkey should rectify its mistake, Beştaş noted that “no good can come to Turkey with it.”

“The fact that the co-chair of Turkey’s third biggest party is kept under torture and restrictions doesn’t do anything to benefit Turkey, and Turkey needs to rectify its mistake as soon as possible,” she said.

After being imprisoned, Demirtaş requested to serve his prison sentence in the same cell as one of the party’s lawmakers from the eastern province of Hakkari, Abdullah Zeydan, who was arrested on Nov. 6 and brought to the same prison in Edirne. Demirtaş’s request was rejected.

Accompanied by HDP lawmakers Burcu Çelik Özkan and Erol Dora, Beştaş said the fact that Demirtaş’s aforementioned request was rejected was against decisions by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

“We are here today for Demirtaş’s prison conditions. Unfortunately, he is still being kept in isolation alone. Despite the fact that Zeydan is also serving here, Demirtaş’s and his requests to stay together were rejected,” she said.

Beştaş also said the prison staff were restricting the number of letters that Demirtaş can write.

“We filed applications on three matters and one concerned the letters. Mr. Demirtaş’s parliamentary group meeting talk wasn’t given. It was given after two weeks and it was censored. His letters to European parliamentarians were also not given. This is not acceptable,” she added.

Turkey HDP Kurdish co-chair Demirtaş skips court hearing after not receiving indictment

November 17, 2016 By administrator

HDP co-chair Demirtaş

An arrested co-chair of Turkey’s third largest party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), did not participate in the first hearing of his “terrorism” case after prosecutors refused to share the indictment.

The first hearing of the case, in which Selahattin Demirtaş is charged with making terror propaganda and faces up to five years in prison, took place in the southern province of Adana on Nov. 17.

The guardian in the prison in which Demirtaş is being held captive in the northwestern province of Edirne told the courtroom that he would not be participating the hearing through the voice and video informatics system (SEGBİS). The guardian also said the necessary explanation for the decision would be given by his lawyers.

A number of lawyers participated in the hearing, which was held at the 2nd Adana Court of Serious Crimes. The hearing in the case was postponed until Jan. 10, 2017.

Ten HDP lawmakers, including co-chairs Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested in a probe launched against 14 of the party’s deputies over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Meanwhile, a HDP deputy from the southeastern province of Urfa criticized Parliamentary Speaker İsmail Kahraman “for remaining silent in the face of the operations.”

“What kind of parliamentary speaker are you? Your members are in jail and in solitary confinement and you say nothing,” Osman Baydemir said in parliament, adding that no charter or law could be legitimate when a party’s co-chairs are in jail.

“No one can say that the parliament is functioning when our co-chairs are in jail. No law or charter that’s going to be prepared will be legitimate,” he said.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hdp-co-chair-demirtasskips-courthearing-afternot-receiving-indictment.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106237&NewsCatID=509

November/17/2016

Demirtas: Turkey’s Ruling Party is ‘Extension’ of ISIS

February 25, 2016 By administrator

ERBIL (Rudaw) – Selahettin Demirtas, co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), bitterly denounced the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Tuesday, alleging it is little more than an “extension of” the Islamic State group (ISIS).

Demirtas was deflecting claims by the Turkish government that the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is affiliated to Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had attacked Turkey.

“What kind of an enmity against Kurds is this that they (AKP) await a bombing in some part of the country just to accuse the PYD?” he asked, while addressing his party’s deputies, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.

“Did the PYD throw a single stone at you from (Syria)?” he asked rhetorically. “I am not talking about bullets, but stones.”

Referring to AKP accusations that HDP is an extension of PKK, Demirtas said that the ruling party itself was a terrorist extension.

“Is there any better terror extension than you (AKP)? You are the extension of ISIS. And this is your hypocrisy. Our party keeps calling for peace as yours is doing all this and you expect us to remain silent,” he argued.

Turkey has been bombing the armed wing of the PYD, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG), in Syria in a bid to halt its offensive against armed groups in northwestern Syria.

Following the Ankara bombing which left 28 people dead last Wednesday, the Turks stepped up those cross-border artillery attacks.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is firmly backed by the AKP, has in the past dubbed both the HDP and the PYD as mere extensions of the PKK, which is banned in Turkey and is once again fighting a war against the Turkish state.

Demirtas condemned the government’s crackdown on the PKK in Cizre and the wider Kurdish-majority southeast and claimed their repressive actions have seen another 500 young people join the PKK.

Islamic State Godfather Davutoğlu accuses Demirtaş of ‘treason’ for criticizing downing of Russian jet

December 24, 2015 By administrator

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Thursday accused pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leader Selahattin Demirtaş of “treason” for criticizing the downing of a Russian jet by Turkish F-16s near the Syrian border last month.

Demirtaş, visited Moscow on Wednesday and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for talks. Speaking at the start of the meeting, he said the downing of the Russian warplane was “not right.”

“They take sides with whoever Turkey is facing a crisis with. Demirtaş saying in Moscow that Turkey’s downing of Russian jet was wrong is a total disgrace and treason,” Davutoğlu told a meeting of businessmen in Ankara.

“Our main duty is to raise our voice against Russian cruelty. Supporting Russia while it kills civilians in Syria is treason not only against this country, but also against humanity.”

Responding to Davutoğlu, the HDP said the prime minister’s remarks are “unacceptable.”

Turkey: the irresistible rise of the Kurdish Selahattin Demirtas, Erdogan nightmare

October 30, 2015 By administrator

In the Turkish legislative approach Sunday, all eyes are turning to the Kurdish Demirtas, leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and most serious rival of President Erdogan. Yet this charismatic candidate has difficulty campaigning.

HDP Co-chair Demirtaş confirms allegation of ISIL plot against him

October 14, 2015 By administrator

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş offers his condolences over bomb blasts that killed 97 people at a peace rally in Ankara. (Photo: DHA)

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş has confirmed the allegations that a group of militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) recently infiltrated Turkey aiming to assassinate him.

“We received intelligence from reliable sources that there were plans to plot an assassination against me. We have tried to tighten security and of course share this information with the authorities. But it [the government] is busy protecting ISIL rather than us,” Demirtaş told the press on Wednesday.

According to several media outlets, HDP Deputy Chairman İdris Baluken submitted a petition to the Interior Ministry on Aug. 5 which claimed that a group of militants affiliated with ISIL infiltrated Turkey aiming to assassinate Demirtaş.

In the petition, the HDP stated: “According to reliable sources, a group of militants from ISIL entered Turkey in order to assassinate our co-chairman, Selahattin Demirtaş. Currently we do not have any further information regarding the identities of the militants. Thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter.”

The Interior Ministry has reportedly failed to respond to the HDP’s petition.

Reporter who foresaw Ankara bombings: ISIL will assassinate Demirtaş

Terrorist organization ISIL is plotting an assassination against HDP Co-chairman Demirtaş, according to Hikmet Durgun, a reporter for Russian news agency Sputnik who foresaw the twin bomb blasts that killed at least 97 people in Ankara on Saturday, in tweets he posted a few days before the attacks took place.

“ISIL is going to assassinate Selehattin Demirtaş in order to get revenge for Kobani. The militant assigned this duty was sent to Turkey,” Durgun tweeted on Wednesday.

What makes his tweet important is that Durgun reported on Sept. 29 that a total of 100 militants had infiltrated Turkey to carry out attacks in major provinces including Ankara and İstanbul and to give military training to ISIL members and sympathizers in Turkey.

The reporter also wrote that 100 militants had dispersed to the provinces of Adana, Adıyaman, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, İstanbul, İzmir, Kilis, Konya and Şanlıurfa after crossing Turkey’s border from Syria in groups. The militants were instructed to avoid unnecessary communication by phone. In addition to arms training, ISIL members and sympathizers in Turkey will also be taught to make bombs.

Durgun complained in a tweet he posted on Tuesday night that even though he reported the Ankara attack would take place, officials failed to take any security measures.

“I reported the infiltration of 100 ISIL militants into Turkey. But no security measure was taken. Terrifying! The ISIL threat still continues. I will continue to tweet about threats,” Durgun said.

A total of 97 people were officially pronounced dead on Sunday night, having lost their lives in the country’s deadliest terrorist attack in Ankara on Saturday. Over 500 people are among the injured, with dozens of them in critical condition. Initial indications suggest that ISIL is responsible for the twin bombings, two senior Turkish security sources told Reuters on Sunday.

The AK Party administration had long been criticized for allegedly turning a blind eye to the passage of foreign fighters, many coming from European countries, to war-torn Syria with intentions to join ISIL. Ignoring warnings from many experts that a lack of border security might one day spell trouble for Turkey, the AK Party government has long maintained its policy of neglecting the necessary measures of precaution at Turkey’s borders.

When a bomb attack shocked Turkey in the southeastern border town of Suruç on July 20, the AK Party shifted its stance regarding ISIL, which was held responsible for the attack that killed 34 civilians who were on their way to reconstruct a city that had been ravaged by the terrorist group.

Within a week of the Suruç bombing, Turkey agreed to grant the US expanded access to İncirlik Air Base, located in the southeastern province of Adana, close to Syria. By late August, Turkey had joined the air strikes being conducted on important ISIL targets in part of a US-led coalition, which Turkey had previously declined to participate in.