Turkey arrests pro-Kurdish party leaders amid claims of internet shutdown

The two joint leaders of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) have been detained along with at least 10 MPs because of their reluctance to give testimony for crimes linked to “terrorist
propaganda”.

Police raided the Ankara home of co-leader Selahattin Demirtaș and the house of co-leader Figen Yüksekdağ in Diyarbakır, the largest city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east, early on Friday.


Demirtaş – a charismatic leader known as the “Kurdish Obama” by some admirers – and Yüksekdağ had been targeted by several separate investigations over the past few months but this is the first time that either has been detained.

Note Almere-Digest: Scandalous, as Turkey becomes more and more of a dictatorship.

Read more: Turkey arrests pro-Kurdish party leaders amid claims of internet shutdown | World news | The Guardian

Turkey's elections: A Turkish Obama ? - Selahattin Demirtaş: thumbing his nose at political convention in Turkey

 Selahattin Demirtaş

When Selahattin Demirtaş shrugged off the formal traditions of Turkish political campaigning and went on a television talk show equipped with a saz, a Turkish folk guitar, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sensed an opportunity to land a blow.

The co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP), sniffed the Turkish president, was a mere “pop star”. But, far from hurting Demirtaş, the remark merely served to highlight Erdoğan’s fear of the 42-year-old’s youthful, telegenic appeal and sense of humour.

His musical performance was just one of the ways in which Demirtaş – the man who has done more than anyone to thwart Erdoğan’s aspirations to build an all-powerful presidency – achieved electoral breakthrough by thumbing his nose at political convention.

In Sunday’s parliamentary elections, the HDP broadened beyond its Kurdish roots, to become a liberal umbrella group with particular appeal to women, gay men and lesbians, anxious about Erdoğan’s growing power and deepening conservatism.

In May, Demirtaş invited the television cameras into his home, where he made a leisurely Turkish breakfast for his wife, Başak, and their two daughters. “Breakfast is the only time we truly enjoy each other’s company,” he said. “After that everyone goes to either school or work.”

Read more: Selahattin Demirtaş: thumbing his nose at political convention in Turkey | World news | The Guardian