Meral Akşener: Demirtaş Should Be Released

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İYİ Party Chair and Presidential candidate Meral Akşaner met with the representatives of the international press today (May 15).

In response to a question regarding the imprisonment of Selahattin Demirtaş, the former Co-Chair and the current Presidential candidate of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), who was arrested on November 4, 2016 and is still held in Edirne Type F Prison, Meral Akşener made the following statement:

"Demirtaş is still a defendant, no verdict has been given about him. Therefore, let's say that the elections are over, three months have passed since then and Demirtaş has been released. In that case, how will Turkey explain the unequal competition during the election campaign in between?"

Reminding that the Supreme Election Council (YSK) has officially registered Selahattin Demirtaş as a Presidential candidate, Akşener also added,

"We are making an effort to make the law operate in an equal, impartial and objective manner for everyone. We think that the pre-trial detention of politicians, intellectuals and journalists is not right. I want that a person nominated as a Presidential candidate can run his campaign with ease and on equal conditions with us."

"I have respect for the mother tongue"

During her meeting with the representatives of the international press, Akşener also responded to a question regarding the demand of the Kurds for education in their mother tongue.

Stating that everyone should respect the mother tongue, Akşener said, "People should definitely learn their mother tongues, but we do not find it right that a state has two or three official languages." (HK/SD)