Erdogan rejects ally's call for release of philanthropist and Kurdish leader

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds pictures of jailed former leader of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party Selahattin Demirtas as people gather to celebrate Newroz, which marks the arrival of spring and the new year, in Istanbul, Turkey March 24, 2019. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan/File Photo

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday dismissed calls from a close ally for the release of a leading Kurdish opposition politician and a philanthropist from jail.

Rights activists, Western powers and some opposition parties have all urged the release of Selahattin Demirtas and Osman Kavala, both arrested in the wake of an attempted coup in 2016. They were joined on Thursday by former deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc, now on the presidency's High Advisory Board.