ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that a call by the European Court of Human Rights for the release of Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas was hypocritical and only Turkish courts can rule on his case.
Speaking to members of his ruling AK Party, Erdogan repeated his view that Demirtas is a terrorist responsible for the deaths of dozens in 2014 protests. He said the ECHR ruling was political.
The Grand Chamber of the ECHR ruled on Tuesday that Turkey must immediately release the former leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) after his more than four years in prison. It said the justification for his detention was a cover for limiting pluralism and political debate.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
