Demirtaş slams chants of ‘death penalty': 'You can’t even hang my jacket'
Demirtaş has slammed Erdoğan for targeting him during the victory speech on presidential election night and the crowd for chanting slogans of “Death penalty for Selo.” “I will say, ‘You can’t even hang my jacket’ but you are not even worth it,” Demirtaş tweeted.
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Jailed former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş has reacted against being the target of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the latter’s address to his supporters on election night.
In a message released on Twitter, Demirtaş said: “With the intoxication of victory of a fraudulent and fake victory, the old king who continues with his slanders, threats and insults from the balcony of his luxurious palace as if he is going to tear his throat out and a lynching group across him who is feeling dizzy out of lies and pleasure are all shouting ‘death penalty.’ The incident isn't happening once upon a time in France. The year is 2023, the place is Ankara. I will say, ‘You can’t even hang my jacket’ but you are not even worth it.”
“I am the grandchild of great Kurdish Commander Selahaddin Eyyubi, the Jerusalem conqueror, of whose name I have taken. When the day comes, I promise that I will be fair to all of you,” Demirtaş further said.
Demirtaş’s remarks came after Erdoğan called Demirtaş a “terrorist” on May 28 night, right after winning the presidential elections, and the crowd listening to him shouted slogans of “Death penalty to Selo (a nickname for Demirtaş).”
Demirtaş has been in prison since 2016. He faces hundreds of years in prison on charges related to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) despite a previous European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that he was imprisoned on political grounds and should be released immediately.