YEREVAN, MAY 5, ARMENPRESS. Turkey’s People’s Democratic Party, HDP, has announced that its candidate for president in the upcoming election is Selahattin Demirtaş, the lawmaker who is jailed since 2016 pending proceedings over terror related charges, Diken reports.

It is unclear if the electoral board will accept the nomination but seemingly there are no legal obstacles for Demirtas to run for office.

“Selahattin Demirtaş is not only the candidate of Kurds, he is the candidate of Armenian, Assyrians,  and Alevis living in this country,” HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan said.

The Peoples' Democratic Party ,is a pro-minority political party in Turkey. Generally left-wing, the party places a strong emphasis on participatory democracy, radical democracy, feminism, minority rights, youth rights and egalitarianism.

Ethnic Armenian Member of Parliament Garo Paylan, who represents Istanbul, is a member of HDP.

After the nomination, HDP co-chair Sezai Temelli read the letter of Demirtas, who addressed his supporters saying he will do everything to win the elections. “But my arms and legs are tied up here. Now, you are my arms, my voice,” Demirtas said.

The jailed lawmaker faces up to 142 years imprisonment if found guilty on terror related charges.

Demirtaş ran for office in the 2014 elections also, garnering 7% votes.

Turkey will have both presidential and parliamentary snap elections on June 24. The country will transition into a presidential system from its current parliamentary system after the elections.

Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been nominated for the elections by the Republican Alliance – a bloc comprising the ruling Justice and Development party and the Nationalist Movement Party.

The polls will be the first since a referendum last year that transformed Turkey's parliamentary democracy into a powerful executive presidency and will hand the president sweeping new powers after the elections.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan