Selahattin Demirtaş, the jailed co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Celebration (HDP) now going through closure over its hyperlinks to the PKK terrorist group, voiced his help for the opposition bloc’s candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for the upcoming Turkish elections.
In a message posted by his legal professionals on his social media account, Demirtaş – a symbolic identify for the HDP, which is able to compete within the elections beneath its proxy Inexperienced Left Celebration (YSP) – wished properly to Kılıçdaroğlu. “I’ll vote for you, Mr. President Kılıçdaroğlu,” the message stated. The message was accompanied by a photograph of Kılıçdaroğlu and an emblem of the Presidency. “I imagine you’ll finish the divide and preserve social peace,” Demirtaş stated, utilizing the rhetoric of his celebration that perpetuates a discourse claiming the PKK is likely one of the “combating sides” in a prolonged battle. Demirtaş additionally referred to as on his supporters to vote for the YSP within the parliamentary elections and for Kılıçdaroğlu for the Presidency. The HDP was quiet about their help for Kılıçdaroğlu at first earlier than the discharge of a written assertion in help of Kılıçdaroğlu within the elections, weeks after the chief of the Republican Folks’s Celebration (CHP) met with the co-chairs of the HDP.
Demirtaş was incarcerated in 2016 however was nominated for the Presidency within the 2018 elections. He misplaced to incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was indicted in a number of lawsuits towards the HDP and the PKK for spreading propaganda of the terrorist group and inciting the infamous 2014 riots the place the PKK supporters killed dozens throughout Türkiye.
