Turkey
Selahattin Demirtas (right) with his father Tahir Demirtas (left). Photo: Firat News Agency (ANF)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Tahir Demirtas, father of jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, died in southeastern Turkey’s Amed (Diyarbakir) on Sunday following a year-long battle with heart disease.
Tahir Demirtas’s health condition has been unstable for nearly a year, during which he has suffered two heart attacks. He was moved to the intensive care unit in one of Diyarbakir’s hospitals a couple of days ago due to the worsening of his condition.
Selahattin Demirtas, who has been in prison since November 2016 for terror-related charges, obtained approval from Turkey’s justice ministry to visit his father in May. The ministry provided a private jet for him to be transferred from his prison cell in Edirne to a hospital in Diyarbakir to check up on his father. He was transferred back to prison immediately after the visit.
Rudaw has learned that Demirtas did not attend the funeral of his father.
Demirtas’ lawyer Mahsuni Karaman, told Artigercek, a news outlet close to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democratic Party (DEM Party), that his client did not ask for permission to attend the funeral “to protest the political hostage situation he is currently in”.
Tulay Hatimogullari, DEM Party co-chair told Rudaw during the funeral procession that Demirtas’ stance was a “rebellion against injustice” inflicted upon him.
“Many of our friends lost their loved ones while being unjustly tried in a fabricated case. They were unable to reunite with their families due to being unlawfully arrested,” said Hatimogullari, calling it a “torture and oppression” inflicted upon Demirtas and his friends, such as former Diyarbakir governor Gulten Kisanak and Former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-Chair Figen Yuksekdag.
“We do not accept this oppression; this injustice must come to an end as soon as possible. Demirtas’ stance can also be seen as a rebellion against this injustice,” she added.
Selahattin Demirtas was the co-chair of the HDP before his arrest along with several other party members for alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Tens of thousands of HDP members, officials and lawmakers have been arrested in the last decade, especially following a failed coup attempt in July 2016 blamed on a former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Most of them have been jailed on terror charges.
Tahir Demirtas’s health condition has been unstable for nearly a year, during which he has suffered two heart attacks. He was moved to the intensive care unit in one of Diyarbakir’s hospitals a couple of days ago due to the worsening of his condition.
Selahattin Demirtas, who has been in prison since November 2016 for terror-related charges, obtained approval from Turkey’s justice ministry to visit his father in May. The ministry provided a private jet for him to be transferred from his prison cell in Edirne to a hospital in Diyarbakir to check up on his father. He was transferred back to prison immediately after the visit.
Rudaw has learned that Demirtas did not attend the funeral of his father.
Demirtas’ lawyer Mahsuni Karaman, told Artigercek, a news outlet close to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democratic Party (DEM Party), that his client did not ask for permission to attend the funeral “to protest the political hostage situation he is currently in”.
Tulay Hatimogullari, DEM Party co-chair told Rudaw during the funeral procession that Demirtas’ stance was a “rebellion against injustice” inflicted upon him.
“Many of our friends lost their loved ones while being unjustly tried in a fabricated case. They were unable to reunite with their families due to being unlawfully arrested,” said Hatimogullari, calling it a “torture and oppression” inflicted upon Demirtas and his friends, such as former Diyarbakir governor Gulten Kisanak and Former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-Chair Figen Yuksekdag.
“We do not accept this oppression; this injustice must come to an end as soon as possible. Demirtas’ stance can also be seen as a rebellion against this injustice,” she added.
Tens of thousands of HDP members, officials and lawmakers have been arrested in the last decade, especially following a failed coup attempt in July 2016 blamed on a former ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Most of them have been jailed on terror charges.
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