MARDIN, Turkey—The veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk who was released on orders of a Turkish court on Friday has reaffirmed that there is no solution for the Kurdish question in Turkey other than “democracy and peace,” while calling for the immediate release of many other MPs, mayors and members of the pro-Kurdish parties.
“We believe that other than democracy and peace, there is no other solution. There is no other way,” Turk told Rudaw after his release, referring to the Kurdish issue in the country.
He also said that the current situation is both “critical and difficult” for the Kurds.
“I came out of prison today, but our leaders, our MPs, and 70 of our mayors, are in prison now,” Turk said as he recalled the moment he left the prison, leaving behind two party politicians, and also referring to dozens of senior leaders arrested by the Turkish authorities from the Pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) umbrella group.
A Turkish court in Mardin ordered the release of Turk on Friday on account of his health. The 75-year-old Kurdish politician was detained by the Turkish police in November as part of a “terror probe” against people with alleged connection to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Istanbul lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu, who is a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), praised the court’s decision.
“Finally, a wrong verdict that contradicts justice and conscience has been rectified. Ahmet Türk was released,” Tanrıkulu tweeted.
A statement from the HDP after his arrest stated that he will survive this arrest, as he did in the past, adding that they "severely condemn" the arrest.
"Ahmet Turk has survived several coups and been imprisoned for his beliefs for many years; he will surely survive this time too," read the HDP's statement.
Turk has a member of the Turkish parliament since the early 1970s. He joined the CHP in 1974 and has been reelected to the parliament six times since.
Turk spent three years in prison after the 1980 coup along with hundreds of other activists, an imprisonment which he has addressed frequently in his public speeches and writings.
"In the Nazi camps, people were left starving to death, but I assure you, the Amed (Diyarbakir) jail was only worse," Turk has said about his time in the notorious prison in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in the 1980s.
"I asked God to take my life when I was in jail," Turk, who is now a leading member of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) umbrella group, wrote in his memoirs.
