3rd Peoples' Democratic Party Extraordinary Congress

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Liliane Maury Pasquier on Nov. 22 called on Turkey to release Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş and former HDP lawmaker Sırrı Süreyya Önder have been convicted on charges of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization."

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) officially started its campaign on May 25 in the northwestern province of Edirne, where former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has been jailed since November 2016 on terrorism charges.

The German embassy in Ankara has said foreign diplomats have not been allowed to follow a public hearing of former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ, expressing concerns over the state of the rule of law in Turkey.

Imprisoned former Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said on April 11 that all summary of proceedings prepared against him were a "plot" by Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) members, during a trial overseen by the Ankara 19th Criminal Court.

Serpil Kemalbay, the former co-leader of the country’s Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was released from arrest on Feb. 20 after being detained one week before over her opposition to Turkey’s ongoing military engagement in northern Syria. 

Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has said the indictments in the case in which he is being tried were prepared by now-imprisoned Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) suspects in the judiciary.

German Ambassador to Turkey Martin Edelman and a the envoys of a number of other countries were not allowed to enter the Sincan courtroom to follow the trial of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş on Feb. 14.

Former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Serpil Kemalbay was detained in the capital Ankara on Feb. 13 for allegedly “spreading terrorist propaganda” during a party congress, according to a security source.

The opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) elected Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli on Feb. 11 as its new co-leaders in the party’s third ordinary convention held in the absence of former HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş and six other lawmakers, who are under arrest.