HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş suffers heart spasm in prison: MP Bilgen

ISTANBUL

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Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş suffered a heart spasm in jail on Dec. 10, HDP lawmaker Ayhan Bilgen said on Dec. 12 at the party’s Central Executive Board meeting.

“We are concerned about our co-chair’s medical condition. We will apply to the Turkish Chamber of Doctors and request that Demirtaş receives treatment in hospital by impartial doctors,” Bilgen said.

Demirtaş has previously suffered a heart spasm but has reportedly been denied medical treatment despite having a doctor’s report on his condition.  

Earlier, the HDP co-chair sent a message from prison stating that he was “being held hostage” by being imprisoned but vowing that “it will not last long.”  

“The mutual need and bonds between us and the people for freedom and peace are so strong that they cannot be restricted to four walls,” he said in a letter published on Dec. 7.

Ten lawmakers from Turkey’s Kurdish-issue focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), as well its co-chairs, Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, were arrested on Nov. 4 in a probe that was launched against 14 of the party’s deputies over alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).