Turkey's pro-Kurdish party on Wednesday said its former co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş would be its candidate for president in polls next month, even though he is currently jailed and on trial in several legal cases
The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) had agreed Demirtaş as its candidate and his campaign would be launched in simultaneous rallies in Istanbul and the majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakır on Friday afternoon, the party said.
Though Demirtaş faces a slew of terror charges over his alleged links to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), there currently are no legal obstacles to his candidacy.
At his most recent courtroom hearing, a defiant Demirtaş said: "We are the ones who will determine the [outcome] of the presidential elections. We are the lock. We are the key."
Earlier this month, Ziya Pir, HDP spokesman and the vice-president of the Technology Trends and Security committee of NATO-PA, said that if former President Abdullah Gül stands for the presidency then the HDP could vote for him. Gül and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were among the founders of the ruling AKP back in 2001.
Last week, when asked if they would vote for Abdullah Gül, HDP co-chair Sezai Temelli said he is a "respected politician and should be taken into account," but there have not been any formal contacts about the probability of his nomination.
Islamist Felicity Party and CHP also said that his party wanted to hold a meeting with Gül if the "opportunity" rises.
However, Gül has announced he would not be running in early elections.
Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) declared that the party participate the general elections with independent candidates in various provinces under the slogan "This Social Order Must Change". Regarding the presidential elections to be held on the same day with general elections, the TKP calls for the people to turn their back on not only to the candidates, but also to this election and the political regime it represents.
