Demirtas cannot be released, Erdogan declares, 'because there is law'

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Turkey's incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed calls for the release of his imprisoned Kurdish political rival Selahattin Demirtas, saying it was 'up to the country's judiciary' to decide.

Erdogan's comments, made while campaigning in the Kurdish city of Adiyaman, were the first about Demirtas's continued detention since the latter announced his candidacy last month for the June 24 presidential polls.

"So he is a candidate. So he has to be set free. What are you saying?" said Erdogan in response to such a call by another rival, Muharrem Ince, of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP). "Who are you releasing?"

He then accused the CHP of walking "hand in hand" with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Demirtas's own Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which he formerly co-headed, is the target of an almost two-years-long ongoing crackdown that has seen the jailing of seven other lawmakers, 80 mayors, and over 5,000 members over alleged ties to the PKK.

Ince visited Demirtas last month at a high-security prison in Edirne Province where authorities have held him since 2016, at the time an ongoing state of emergency was imposed on the country.

The charismatic Kurdish leader, to whom prosecutors are asking courts to hand prison sentences of up to 142 years, has not been convicted of a crime. Charges against him vary from insulting Erdogan to membership in and propaganda for groups engaged in "terrorism" with speeches he has made in the past.

The Turkish President's use of the term "terrorist" when referring to Demirtas has led to a libel case, brought by the HDP.

Having formed an alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) hopes to consolidate its parliamentary dominance in June's snap general elections.

On the other hand, HDP, CHP, and other opposition blocs are eager to topple the MHP-AKP alliance and deny Erdogan another electoral victory that would grant him an even more powerful presidency, untouchable by parliamentary checks and balances.

If Erdogan fails to garner 50.1 percent of ballots cast in this round of elections, the country will hold a run-off vote on July 8 between the two presidential candidates that have gotten the most votes.

Editing by John J. Catherine