Jailed former HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş rejected remarks by former Parliament Speaker Bülent Arınç suggesting Demirtaş wished to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and tell him he held no resentment.
After a visit to Edirne Prison, Arınç said Demirtaş wanted to tell Erdoğan, “I hold no grudge against you.” Demirtaş responded with a handwritten note, saying he never expressed such a thought. “What troubles me most is being associated with words and ideas I never hinted at,” he wrote.
Demirtaş said he entered prison “with dignity” and would leave the same way or remain there “until the last day” of his life.
“No one has the authority to speak on my behalf, even with good intentions. I share my views publicly when necessary. Any statement not made directly by me does not bind me,” he said.
He also announced he would no longer meet with politicians or lawyers, except for his own close circle of colleagues and family.
Arınç has continued to publicly describe his prison visit, recounting what he said were Demirtaş’s reflections on the Kobani case, his distance from violence, and his lack of political ambitions going forward.
