Arrested on Nov. 4, 2016 on terrorism-related charges, Demirtaş has since then remained in prison despite two European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings in 2018 and 2020 that said Demirtaş was imprisoned for “political” reasons and not for “legal” reasons, ordering his “immediate release.”
In a series of tweets Demirtaş accused Erdoğan of feeding on conflict and preventing efforts at peace. He also criticized the government’s crackdown on pro-Kurdish politicians, including imprisoning those who advocated for peace and appointing trustees to their municipalities.
“We could have done this already, but Erdoğan imprisoned those who wanted peace, put them in isolation, tried to close down their parties, appointed trustees to their municipalities, fueled the conflict with provocations and tried to scare the people with the discourse of ‘terror’ to get votes. And they’re still doing this,” Demirtaş tweeted.
Despite these challenges, Demirtaş said peace and tranquillity are possible. However, he warned of persistent provocations and the risk of bloodshed before upcoming elections.
“We will be careful together and we will not be tricked. Please remember, we want peace and democracy. We want to live together equally and fraternally,” he said.
