In an interview with Bianet, Selahattin Demirtaş stated that he has been taken hostage because of his thoughts and political stance and that he is a revolutionary.

HDP Presidential candidate Demirtaş, who cannot be running his elections activities, like meetings and rallies, because he is in prison, underlined that president Erdoğan is using all means available in his campaign. “My campaign is run from a prison cell, it can never meet the level of Erdoğan campaign”.

Demirtaş added that: “This situation is a serious violation of our voters’ right if no attempt is made to normalise it”. I certainly am the candidate in the most disadvantaged position, he said.

“The other candidates have no vision for the future”

Despite his very limited possibilities, Demirtaş said that he had closely followed the discourse of all Presidential candidates.

Commenting on those discourses he pointed out some shortcomings: “No candidate - he said - has been able to put forward a vision of the future centered on liberties. None of them has such a capacity or mentality. Voters have not heard a single idea in these speeches or project able to inspire hope and excitement about liberties. That discourse belongs to the HDP candidate, who has not been able to meet his voters yet”.

What if the HDP wins?

Demirtaş said that his first step, if he wins the elections, will be to “invite all political party presidents to a meet around the table and seek consensus around a joint program and roadmap for the period of transition to democracy”.

“No victim but revolutionary”

Responding to Ahmet Hakan, who said that “he presents himself as a victim in prison and he will certainly turn the victimhood into a vote”, Demirtaş said: “I am not a victim here. As one of the representatives of the liberation struggle I am a revolutionary who has been taken hostage because of my thoughts and political situation. It was not my choice to go to prison, - he added - but I believe that I kept my stand when I was thrown in here. Society does not consider every prisoner as a victim. I am not a victim, and I kept a firm stance. In any case, I wouldn't advise anyone to get riled up on Ahmet Hakan's account and land themselves in prison.”