Selahattin Demirtas, the 44-year-old leader of Turkey’s main Kurdish political movement, has been behind bars on terror-related charges for almost a year. The details of the charges remain ambiguous amid legal controversies surrounding his ongoing trial. This, however, is not the only reason why Demirtas has remained in the news.
A lawyer by profession, the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) had always stood out on the political scene, introducing humor, sharp wit and a genial touch to the rough-and-tumble Turkish politics. Incarcerated in the northwestern province of Edirne, he continues to stand out even from prison — this time through arts and literature. Along with the occasional political statements, his messages from jail have come in the form of paintings, poems and most recently a collection of stories, reinforcing his unique image in Turkish politics.
