Turkish opposition excludes Demirtas from 'justice march'
Berberoglu is the first CHP lawmaker jailed as a government crackdown on the HDP already saw massive waves of arrests and imprisonment of 11 pro-Kurdish members of parliament, including Demirtas.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - As Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) 'Justice March' from capital Ankara to Istanbul entered its seventh day on Wednesday, leader of the secularist party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu ruled out any concrete support for the imprisoned Kurdish co-chair Selahattin Demirtas.
Several HDP members and liberal columnists have suggested if CHP's 'march for justice' reached Edirne, it could gain enough momentum to create a substantial opposition to Erdogan's ever tightening grip on power.
"We do not have any such preparations," said Kilicdaroglu on Tuesday when the Turkish Fox TV asked him if they had any intention of taking the march to the city of Edirne, west of Istanbul, where the authorities hold co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Demirtas in a supermax prison.
However, he went on to accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of giving orders to the judiciary and called him a "dictator."
The CHP began its walk last week upon the detention and sentencing of one of its lawmakers Enis Berberoglu to 25 years in prison.
He allegedly assisted the publication of footage of a 2014 weapons delivery by the Turkish intelligence via trucks to Islamist groups fighting in Syria.
Berberoglu is the first CHP lawmaker jailed as a government crackdown on the HDP already saw massive waves of arrests and imprisonment of 11 pro-Kurdish members of parliament, including Demirtas in "terror"-related trials since November 2016.
The Parliament has already ousted three HDP MPs, while Interior Ministry last month announced it could deprive two lawmakers of citizenship for going abroad and "escaping justice."
An Istanbul court charged Enisoglu with spying and giving the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper the video allegedly showing Turkish intelligence (MIT) trucking weapons into Syria.
Erdogan last week derided Kilicdaroglu's initiative to stir grassroots movement from the street to weaken his rule, declaring that the courts could come after the main opposition leader too.
Kilicdaroglu supported an April 2015 bill by Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that removed lawmaker immunity from prosecution, a move that has disproportionately targeted the HDP, and now is aiming at the CHP.
Editing by Ava Homa