Former Kurdish Party Leader Sentenced To Lengthy Prison Stint

A court has sentenced Selahattin Demirtas, former head of the Kurdish interest People's Democratic Party (HDP) to more than 20 years in prison for his role in the 2014 mass protests that descended into violence between Kurds and Turkish police, leading to several deaths. Demirtas previously ran as a candidate for the Turkish presidency in 2014 and 2018, coming third each time with 9.8% and 8.4% of the vote respectively.

• In 2014, terrorist group ISIS has laid siege to the Syrian city of Kolbani, which has a large Kurdish population and sits close to the Turkish border. Kurdish volunteers were denied access to Syria to fight ISIS, Turkish forces did not provide any support to those fighting ISIS, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was accused of blocking Kurdish refugees from fleeing the region. Dermitas was arrested in 2016 and has been detained ever since.
• Following his re-election in June 2023, Erdogan said that Dermirtas' release was 'out of the question' during his time in office, calling the former HDP leader a 'terrorist'.
• As Reuters notes, the sentencing risks fuelling, "political tensions in Turkey around Demirtas' pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which the state has targeted in a years-long crackdown and which is facing potential closure in a separate court case."