“My apologies” – Jailed pro-Kurdish politician in Turkey retires Meat substitute manufacturer Planted wants to expand production

Three days after the elections in Turkey, the imprisoned ex-leader of the pro-Kurdish opposition party HDP, Selahattin Demirtas, retired from politics.

“While I continue to fight with resistance like all my companions from prison, I give up active politics at this time,” Demirtas wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “I sincerely apologize on my own behalf for our failure to develop a policy worthy of our people.”

Demirtas has been imprisoned on terrorism charges since 2016, but has continued to exert great influence over his party and supporters while in prison. Time and time again he spoke out on Twitter about current political issues. Like his party, he called for support for opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections. In the second round of the presidential election on Sunday, Kilicdaroglu lost to incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The European Court of Human Rights last ordered the release of the pro-Kurdish politician in 2020. Erdogan ignored the verdict. After his election victory on Sunday, Erdogan said Demirtas would not be released from prison as long as he was in power. His followers then called for the death penalty for Demirtas, which does not exist in Turkey. Erdogan accuses the HDP of being an extension of the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, which is on the list of terrorist organizations. The HDP rejects this.

During the election campaign, Erdogan repeatedly verbally attacked Demirtas and the entire opposition, defaming them as “terrorists”. (sda/dpa)