Former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtas was granted temporary release from prison, with the approval of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to attend his wife’s surgery before returning to custody. Turkish media reports indicate that Demirtas was moved from Edirne prison to Istanbul under special arrangements to be by his wife’s side during the procedure.
Sirri Sureyya Onder, a member of the Imrali delegation and Deputy Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, posted a new photo of Selahattin Demirtas alongside his wife, Basak Demirtas.In a television interview, Onder revealed that Demirtas was granted permission to visit his wife following her delicate surgery, with the consent of President Erdogan.
“Bahceli spoke with Demirtas using my phone and conveyed his wishes for a speedy recovery to his wife, Basak Demirtas,” Onder noted.Selahattin Demirtas, Co-Chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), has been in custody since November 4, 2016, facing multiple charges. In May 2024, a Turkish court sentenced him to 42 years in prison concerning the Kobani case.Married to Basak Demirtas since 2002, the couple has two daughters.
Demirtas is a Kurdish politician, lawyer, and author. He served as the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018. After the May 2023 elections, Demirtas announced his departure from politics. He was the HDP’s presidential candidate in the 2014 elections, finishing in third place. Under his leadership, the HDP garnered 13.1% of the votes in the June 2015 parliamentary elections and 10.7% in the snap elections that followed in November, placing fourth in both instances. Despite his imprisonment, the HDP nominated Demirtas as its candidate for the 2018 presidential election, allowing him to run his campaign from behind bars.
Awards received by Selahattin Demirtas
In November 2019, Selahattîn Demîrtaş was honored with the Political Courage Award by the Progressive Alliance. His wife, Başak Demirtaş, attended the award ceremony on his behalf while he remained imprisoned.
In 2022, he received the Political Courage Award from the Institute François Mitterrand, with Hişyar Özsoy representing Demirtaş at the ceremony.
