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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish supporters and politicians on Wednesday called for the release of former pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, marking 10 years since their arrest in Turkey. Supporters subsequently urged authorities to take steps toward democratization as part of the country's renewed peace process.
"We want our president to be released. Enough with the cruelty, enough with the insults against us," Adile Akan, a mother who traveled from Tekirdag's Corlu district, told Rudaw's Omer Sonmez on Wednesday.
Despite the rain, Kurds from Istanbul and the surrounding region gathered outside Edirne Prison, where Demirtas is held, chanting slogans demanding freedom for the former party leaders and other Kurdish political prisoners.
"Our demand is freedom, first and foremost, the freedom of leaders Apo [Abdullah Ocalan] and Selahattin Demirtas," said Abdulmelik Donmez, a DEM Party member from Tekirdag, describing Demirtas's resistance as a source of "honor and dignity" for Kurds.
The anniversary comes as Turkey pursues a new peace process with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Kurdish politicians have argued that the continued imprisonment of elected representatives undermines efforts to build confidence and advance democratic reforms.
DEM Party Co-Chair Tuncer Bakirhan said on Wednesday that the government must respond to steps taken toward ending the conflict by releasing political prisoners, particularly Demirtas and Yuksekdag, who were arrested in 2016 in Diyarbakir (Amed) and Ankara, respectively.
"The PKK has dissolved itself and, according to its statements, there is not a single fighter or camp left within Turkey's borders that poses a threat to the country," Bakirhan said, calling the steps unilateral and urging Ankara to reciprocate by freeing political detainees.
"Now is the time to release Demirtas and Yuksekdag," he added.
DEM Party Co-Chair Tulay Hatimogullari visited Demirtas at Edirne Prison on the anniversary and delivered a message from him on the peace process, according to the party.
She said Demirtas had reaffirmed his commitment to the process despite his imprisonment, telling supporters that he would continue contributing to efforts for peace and democratization.
"Even under these conditions of imprisonment, we are making every effort for the Peace and Democratic Society Process and will continue to support it," Hatimogullari quoted him as saying.
Demirtas, in a separate written message published on his X account on Tuesday, stressed that responsibility for advancing the peace process rests with both the Turkish state and the PKK, while emphasizing the latter’s role.
"The state's responsibility for democratization, establishing legal guarantees and opening the way for freedoms cannot replace the organization's responsibility to advance disarmament," he wrote.
Demirtas stressed the need to rebuild trust, saying all sides must contribute to advancing the peace process. "Every actor has a key to open a different door," he wrote.
DEM Party lawmaker Sirri Sakik criticized the continued imprisonment of Demirtas and Yuksekdag, saying they had been detained for 10 years despite pursuing democratic politics.
"Killers walk freely while politicians are in prison," he told parliament.
At Turkey's parliament on Wednesday, DEM Party lawmaker Sirri Sakik also criticized Demirtas and Yuksekdag's continued imprisonment, contrasting their detention with the release of people associated with Hezbollah.
"Killers walk freely while politicians are in prison," Sakik said.
Another supporter, Parihan Gozmen, said she had come to demand justice for Demirtas. "He is innocent and without fault. It has been years," she told Rudaw. "We came to make our voices heard against whoever inflicts injustice upon the Kurdish nation."
Demirtas and Yuksekdag were arrested in November 2016 alongside other HDP lawmakers during a crackdown on the party.
In December 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to secure Demirtas's immediate release, finding several violations of his rights to no avail.
The arrests form a part of a wider crackdown on Kurdish political representation in Turkey, where dozens of elected Kurdish mayors have been removed and replaced by government-appointed trustees since 2016.
The DEM Party says the arrests marked a turning point for Kurdish politics in Turkey, with the crackdown followed by the removal of elected Kurdish mayors and the appointment of government trustees to replace them.
The DEM Party has in recent weeks called for political prisoners to be released and demanded that elected Kurdish mayors be reinstated, saying these steps are necessary to advance democratization and the peace process.
