Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973, in Palu, Turkey) is a Turkish-speaking pro-Kurdish[1] politician whose parent speak Zazaki language.[2] He became the chairman of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in January 2010.[3]
He graduated from Ankara University Law Faculty. He is on the Board of Directors of the Diyarbakir Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD).
Selahattin Demirtaş was elected to the Turkish Parliament in the 2007 election as an MP for Diyarbakir for the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which eventually re-formed as the BDP.
He is married and has two children. His brother, Nurettin Demirtaş was also an active politician and the leader of the Democratic Society Party (DTP).
In September 2010, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is banned as a terrorist organization in Turkey.[4]
Demirtaş emerged as a leader of the BDP's civil disobedience campaign during the 2011 Kurdish protests in Turkey, which he compared to concurrent protests in the region, especially the revolution in Egypt.[5] He spoke with President Abdullah Gul on behalf of the Kurdish population after the fatal shooting of a BDP supporter by police in April.[6]