Call for 'freedom' from Selahattin Demirtaş! 'Elected officials must be released'

Former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been held in Edirne Prison for approximately 9 years, published a written statement on his social media account. Addressing the conflicts that have begun between Iran and Israel and developments in the Middle East, Demirtaş said, "The Iranian regime has been completely closed to democracy and human rights for many years, primarily doing a great injustice to its own citizens. However, no justification can legitimize imperial intervention. We must prioritize the cessation of military operations against Iran and a return to the negotiating table."

Emphasizing that the importance of the PKK's disarmament process has increased even further in the current situation, Demirtaş stated that the process must reach success quickly without being interrupted.

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— Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas) June 17, 2025

The entirety of Demirtaş's message is as follows:

"The Iranian regime has been completely closed to democracy and human rights for many years, primarily doing a great injustice to its own citizens. However, no justification can legitimize imperial intervention. We must prioritize the cessation of military operations against Iran and a return to the negotiating table. However, it appears that imperial interventions in the Middle East will not stop until they achieve their own goals. In addition to defending regional peace on principle and exerting intense effort for it, we must act faster and more courageously in ensuring unity and peace internally.

In this framework;

1- With Abdullah Öcalan’s February 27 call and the PKK’s decision to dissolve, all parties must demonstrate a level of care, courage, and wisdom so that the disarmament process can be completed in a balanced and rapid manner without being subjected to any provocation or incitement.

2- Judicial harassment disguised as politics, which clearly serves neither the goal of strengthening the internal front nor the development of a sense of justice, must be definitively ended. If there is an allegation of a crime, necessary steps must be taken to ensure it is carried out by chief prosecutors, prosecutors, and judges whose impartiality and independence cannot be questioned.

The trial of elected mayors and bureaucrats without arrest is also a requirement of our domestic law; concrete progress must now be made on this issue, releases must be ensured, and cases must be concluded as quickly as possible through a fair judicial process. While the fire in the Middle East turns into a massive conflagration, such attitudes that exclude society should not be insisted upon.

3- In such a period, no one should even consider making adventurous, risky moves that will result in disaster by making small calculations. It should not be forgotten that imperialism is a ruin rather than a gain. We will be together in this period as the society of Turkey; as a caravan of free, secular, egalitarian, and fair citizens, we will resist when necessary as a people of 85 million from Edirne to Hakkari; we will defend our common homeland at the cost of our lives.

We will also solve our own internal problems among ourselves, within a framework of mutual trust and in a 'spirit of brotherhood.' Any search outside of this only brings disaster. We will be courageous and sincere, giving no credit to any rote, angry, vengeful, or spiteful approach on this matter.

4- Predicting that the Middle East fire will not be extinguished in a short time, it would be beneficial for a working meeting to be held as soon as possible at the invitation of the President with all political party leaders in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) to determine a short, medium, and long-term internal and external joint policy line and for every political group to be able to defend this line with peace of mind.

None of the points I have mentioned are an obstacle to democratic opposition based on courtesy in domestic politics or to the auditing and criticism of the government. The real danger is the whitewashing of anti-democratic tendencies with rhetoric of unity and solidarity.

Turkey is born oppressed, Turkey is born just, Turkey has sprouted in peace, and for this, we will have words to say, courage to show, and a will for solidarity.

This storm will of course subside one day, and we, as the ancient peoples of these lands, will live here together, free and equal."