Selahattin Demirtaş is a Turkish politician and author of Kurdish origin. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağ from 2014 to 2018. Selahattin Demirtaş announced that he left politics after the May 2023 elections.
Selahattin Demirtaş
Demirtaş meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz in 2013
Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, November 2015 Turkish general election
Demirtas in Cizre
Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey)
The Peoples' Democratic Party, or Democratic Party of the Peoples, is a pro-Kurdish political party in Turkey. Generally left-wing, the party places a strong emphasis on participatory and radical democracy, feminism, minority rights, youth rights, and egalitarianism. It is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES), a consultative member of the Socialist International, and a party within the Progressive Alliance (PA).
Labour Party founder Abdullah Levent Tüzel joined the HDP parliamentary caucus despite party's split with the HDP.
A HDP election stand in Germany, 3 May 2015
Image: Ertuğrul Kürkçü (cropped)
Image: Sebahat Tuncel