Letters from other parties’ supporters make me happy, HDP co-chair says

ANKARA

Selahattin Demirtaş, the jailed co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has expressed his happiness at receiving hundreds of letters from the supporters of other parties in the country, in response to questions submitted to him by the Ankara correspondent of the Dicle News Agency (Dihaber).

“I have been receiving messages and letters from society’s different factions. I received letters of solidarity from hundreds of people who introduced themselves as followers of CHP [Republican People’s Party], AKP [Justice and Development Party] and even the MHP [Nationalist Movement Party]. And this makes me extra happy,” he said.

Demirtaş said he did not the number of letters that had been sent to him but that the number reached into the thousands. “I received letters from almost all of the countries of Europe as well as from Canada, America and Australia.”

Demirtaş also noted that no AKP executives or deputies had ever visited him at the Edirne Prison where he has been jailed since Nov. 4, 2016, on terror charges.

“The AKP’s executives and deputies with whom I formed a mutual acquaintanceship over the years and reflected themselves as supporters of equality, justice and democracy are so dumbfounded out of fear that they cannot even send letters,” Demirtaş said, in answer to Hayri Demir’s question if any AKP member had visited him. 

The questions were reported to be submitted to Demirtaş through his lawyer.