Turkey rejects to release top Kurdish politician Demirtas

<p style="text-align:left">A Turkish court on Friday has defied a European Court of Human Rights ruling demanding the release of Selahattin Demirtas.

According to Hurriyet daily the decision comes after Turkey's president said the European court's decisions were non-binding.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on November 20 that the pretrial detention of Selahattin Demirtas, the former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), served the "ulterior purpose of stifling pluralism and limiting the freedom of political debate" and demanded his immediate release.
Demirtas' lawyers then filed an appeal to an Ankara court calling for his release. In its ruling, the court said the ECHR decision had not been finalized.
The ECHR enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory. The court's rulings are binding for member states.
Following the ECHR ruling, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "The decisions delivered by the ECHR do not bind us."
The EU's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, last week called for Demirtas' release, prompting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to say her comments were "out of line."
The HDP said on Friday that the Ankara court decision was in violation of the Turkish constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court made a "totally political decision under pressure from President Erdogan and the government," HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli said in a statement.
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