Erdoğan supporters chant 'death penalty' for Demirtaş during victory speech

During his victory speech held in the presidential complex in the capital Ankara, President Erdoğan has said that it is “not possible” to release jailed HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş under his rule. Following him, Erdoğan supporters chanted “death penalty for Selo” referring to Demirtaş.

Monday May 29 2023 02:16 pm

Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan secured his third term in office on May 28 during the second round of the presidential election.

He held his traditional “balcony” victory speech in the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

Erdoğan once again claimed that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) executives were supporting main opposition Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu with a montage video. The fabricated video in question depicts as if executives of the PKK were singing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu’s campaign song.

Moreover, Erdoğan argued that Kılıçdaroğlu promised to release jailed Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş from prison.

“What was (Kılıçdaroğlu) saying? 'If you want to release Selo (Demirtaş), vote for me.' This terrorist who killed 51 of our Kurdish brothers in Diyarbakır is Selo. In Turkey, where rights and law rule, you cannot release Selo, who caused the death of 51 of our Kurdish brothers, as you wish. It is not possible for such a thing to happen in our government. In our power, justice is the basis of property!,” Erdoğan said during his speech.

After his remarks, Erdoğan supporters chanted “death penalty for Selo” referring to 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 ECHR ruling that he was imprisoned on political grounds and should be released immediately.

“Didn't German, French and English magazines throw their covers to demolish Erdoğan? Here they lost too, my brothers! You've seen the alliances that have been formed for months. You have seen who is standing against us from terrorist organizations to deviant ideologies. What happened though? They failed,” Erdoğan added.

According to unofficial results, Erdoğan has garnered more than 52% of the votes in the runoff vote against Kılıçdaroğlu.

After the election results Selahattin Demirtaş said "Even reaching this rate of votes with a principled and ethical election campaign against a huge operational force that has taken over the state is considered a miracle."

"In fact, it was not an election, but a major operation. The election process was full of inequalities, oppression, incredible lies, slanders. Despite this, the public certainly approved of the change, but the whole process was manipulated. We are not defeated. Let no one be hopeless because we are not defeated. Never surrender. Keep fighting, keep going, keep going," he added in a series of tweets.

Oy vermek için sandığa giden, çok istese bile gidemeyen, oyları korumak için direnen, emek veren herkese çok teşekkür ediyorum.

Devleti ele geçirmiş olan devasa bir operasyon gücüne karşı ilkeli, ahlaklı bir seçim çalışmasıyla bu oy oranına ulaşmak bile mucize sayılır.

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— Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas) May 28, 2023