Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP party picks new co-leader as Serpil Kemalbay

Serpil Kemalbay, of the opposition pro-Kurdish party HDP (Democracy Party of Peoples), speaks in front of the jailed HDP co-leaders Figen Yuksekdag, right in background, and Selahattin Demirtas, after she was elected the co-president of the third congress party in Ankara, Turkey, May 20, 2017. (AFP photo)

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the main pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, has picked Serpil Kemalbay to replace a jailed co-leader amid a massive government crackdown.

The HDP named Kemalbay in a tightly-guarded congress meeting on Saturday to replace Figen Yuksekdag, who was stripped of her parliamentary status three months ago after being jailed on terrorism charges in November 2016.

The organizers of the HDP congress displayed images of ten HDP deputies on the stage while speakers hailed resistance by Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, the other leader of the party who is also in prison on similar charges.

Demirtas, who still remains a member of parliament, issued a statement from his cell in northwestern Turkey, calling on the HDP to prepare "a plan to fight for democracy and peace" in the face of a "political purge."

"We are experiencing the virtual shutdown of all democratic political channels," read the statement by Demirtas, who added, "But whatever happens ... the HDP will not abandon democratic politics, it will insist on non-violent methods to find a solution to political problems."

Serpil Kemalbay, center, who was elected the co-president of Turkey's third congress party, is seen during an event in the capital Ankara on May 20, 2017. (AFP photo)

The HDP, the second largest opposition party in Turkey, began to feel increasing pressure when the government launched a crackdown on outlawed Kurdish militants in the southeast two years ago. The party says more than 5,000 of its members have been arrested as part of the clampdown. It also challenges the government's claims that thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed in military operations in the southeast, saying many of them have been civilians.

The crackdown on Kurds comes amid a larger swoop on followers of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who is accused by the government of masterminding a coup attempt last year. More than 100,000 have been either jailed or discharged from their jobs over an alleged role in the coup, which killed at least 250 in a matter of night on July 16, 2015.

Prosecutors sentenced Demirtas in February for "insulting the Turkish people, the government and state institutions." He is wanted to serve 142 years in jail on charges of terrorist group propaganda. Yuksekdag faces up to 83 years in jail on similar charges.