Jailed Kurdish leader calls on Turkish opposition to unite against Erdogan

A supporter of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) holds a portrait of their jailed former leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas during a campaign event in Istanbul, Turkey, June 17, 2018. REUTERS/Huseyin Aldemir

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtas, jailed since 2016 despite Western calls for his release, said the Turkish opposition should unite against rising oppression and moves to divide them, including a court case to ban his party.

Demirtas told Reuters that opponents of President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party (AKP) and his nationalist allies should agree shared democratic principles and form an alliance now rather than wait until elections scheduled for 2023.