ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkish nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli, who is President Tayyip Erdogan’s main parliamentary ally, said on Tuesday that it “would be beneficial” to release from prison the former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtas.
The surprise comment before reporters outside parliament came a year after Bahceli – who has in the past pushed for major policy changes from Erdogan – called for the beginning of a peace process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
PKK militants have since decided to disarm and dissolve, opening a rare window for Turkey to address decades long grievances with its large Kurdish minority, which drove Demirtas’s surging popularity before he was jailed in 2016.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled twice on the Demirtas case saying his rights have been violated – but Erdogan’s government has for years ignored the court’s calls for his immediate release.
Turkey’s last appeal to the ECHR ruling was rejected on Monday.
When asked about the court’s final decision on the case, Bahceli, in the halls of parliament, told reporters: “The legal path has been completed. His release would be beneficial for Turkey.”
The pro-Kurdish opposition DEM Party, which was called HDP when Demirtas was leader, remains the third-largest in parliament.
It has been targetted with a years-long legal crackdown in which thousands of its officials and members have been jailed and many of its lawmakers and mayors unseated.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; writing by Jonathan Spicer)
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