A supporter of Kurdish HDP party holds a portrait of their jailed former leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas during a campaign event in Istanbul, Turkey, June 17, 2018. Photo: Reuters
DIYARBAKIR-AMED, Turkey’s Kurdish region,— Turkey’s jailed top Kurdish politician and former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas was nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for being “courageous” and “promoting peace” In Turkey.
The charismatic Kurdish leader was nominated by Swedish lawmaker Thomas Hammarberg, a Social Democrat and human rights advocate.
“For the last twelve years, Demirtas has played a key role in almost every initiative in Turkey promoting peace between Kurds and Turks, minority rights, women rights, homosexual rights, and democracy,” read Hammarberg’s letter that was submitted to the Nobel Committee as reported by Turkey’s Gazete Duvar outlet.
Demirtas faces up to 142 years in jail if convicted of other charges relating to alleged links to Kurdish militants. He was in September 2018, sentenced to four years and eight months for disseminating “terror” PKK propaganda.
“He has been constant and courageous in his work for a peaceful solution of Kurdish question. He has worked for an end of warfare against Kurds in Turkey and Syria,” the letter added.
Demirtas was jailed on November 4, 2016, along with then fellow HDP co-chair Figen Yuksekdag over their alleged links to Kurdish militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK. Demirtas had run a fiery campaign against the ruling Justice and Development Party engaging in debates against then PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“He has reminded us, even when behind bars, that the struggle for peace is never more important than in troubled times like now,” the letter continued.
Demirtas, a Kurd, and others had been asked by the Turkish state to help moderate in peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“In a nation marred by authoritarianism, sectarian conflict, profoundly flawed justice system, non- free expression and no fundamental human rights, he has been a steadfast defender of those seeking to establish a just society where all the peoples of Turkey can live together in peace and prosperity, in full knowledge of their intertwined cultural and political histories,” Hammarberg continued.
Demirtas has been to trial multiple times, but his future remains uncertain. Many see him as the only figure capable of negotiating a peace deal between the PKK and Ankara.
The native son of Elazig was born 1973. He led the HDP’s presidential and parliamentary election campaign from prison in June 2018 securing 65 seats — up from 59.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in November 2018 ruled that Demirtas’ pre-trial detention was a political act and called on Turkey to release Demirtas, who has been held for two years on “terror” charges — a call immediately rejected by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish courts refused to implement the European court’s ruling, and a regional appeals court in Turkey on Dec. 4 upheld Demirtas’ four year, eight month prison sentence for disseminating terrorist propaganda.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974, and has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
Demirtas, dubbed the “Kurdish Obama” by admirers, ran against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the 2014 and 2018 presidential elections. In his second attempt, the Kurdish politician had to carry out his election campaign from jail.
(With files from rudaw.net | turkishminute.com | Reuters | AFP)
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