Social Media Calls for Presidential Candidacy of Demirtaş

* Photograph above: "Demirtaş" Time for Turkey

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

At a time when it is frequently expressed that the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) is likely to nominate Selahattin Demirtaş, the former Co-Chair of HDP, who has been in prison for the last 17 months, for Presidential election on June 24, a new hashtag has been started on social media, demanding his release: #CumhurbaşkanımıTahliyeEt (Release My President).

The hashtags #Demirtaş and #AdayımızDemirtaş (Our Candidate is Demirtaş) have also been previously started for Demirtaş.

Some of the messages shared in the last 24 hours under the hashtag are as follows:

* The Presidential candidate of HDP is Demirtaş! We will take you out of the prison with our votes.

* Demirtaş is the hope of the society of Turkey, hope cannot be handcuffed.

* #Demirtaş, who has turned the prison into an art house, a hope-house, has transformed the country into a happiness-house even with his Presidential candidacy.

* I have one vote and it will go to the man who has paid a price for lighting the torch of 'We will not make you President.' I will cast my vote and with my vote, I will send a message to Edirne Prison, which reads 'You are not alone.' That is all.

* To me, the defence of #Demirtaş is more striking and more valuable than that of Socrates. The mainstream media has cropped his defence as it sees fit and served it like that.

* And time to revive... We will win, we will definitely win!

In one of the messages, it has been written, "Against whom has the alliance been formed; is the alliance called the opposition to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or the opposition to Selahattin Demirtaş?" In the photograph posted alongside this question, it can be seen that all politicians in the picture, except for Selahattin Demirtaş, show the hand sign which is a symbolic landmark of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). (ŞA/SD)