Turkey will release Demirtaş, Kavala if Kılıçdaroğlu wins elections, says MP

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If Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the presidential candidate of the main opposition bloc, wins the May elections, Turkey will comply with the ECtHR decisions regarding two prominent political prisoners, according to his foreign policy advisor.

Kılıçdaroğlu will seek to repair the country's record on human rights and resume EU accession talks, said Ünal Çeviköz, an MP for Kılıçdaroğlu's Republican People's Party (CHP), in an interview with Politico.

"This will simply give the message to all our allies, and all the European countries, that Turkey is back on track to democracy, and that certainly will create a very serious change in the perception about Turkey's position," he was quoted as saying.

Selahattin Demirtaş, former co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and Osman Kavala, a businessperson and rights advocate, have been in prison since 2016 and 2017, respectively.

The courts in Turkey refused to release Demirtaş despite a December 2020 decision by the ECtHR Grand Chamber. (NT/VK)