Selahattin Demirtas, photo: Collected

ISTANBUL, Nov 4, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Turkey's main opposition parties demanded the release of Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas as he marked nine years behind bars Tuesday, following a binding European rights court ruling on his imprisonment.

Now 52, Demirtas -- a once prominent and charismatic leader within Turkey's Kurdish movement -- was arrested on November 4, 2016 and jailed on suspicion of "terror-related" offences at the height of his political career.

Despite the years spent in jail, he still commands fierce loyalty for his outspoken support of the Kurdish minority and their rights.

Western governments see him as a political prisoner who was jailed after helping briefly break President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grip on parliament.

Last year, he was handed 42 years for his alleged role in the deadly 2014 protests that erupted when Islamic State group jihadists overran the Syrian town of Kobane. He has also been charged with other crimes, including terrorism-related offences in favour of the Kurdish militant PKK, and insulting the president.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has repeatedly demanded his release, denouncing his arrest and trial as unfair and unlawful in a string of rulings ignored by Ankara.

The court issued its final, definitive ruling on Monday night, confirming that his rights had been violated and ordering his release.

Following the ruling, the pro-Kurdish DEM, parliament's third largest party, demanded his immediate release.

"Accounting for the numerous ECHR decisions so far and its latest final decision, our friends should be released immediately," it said, referring to Demirtas and his former co-chair Figen Yuksekdag, 53, also serving a decades-long sentence for terrorist propaganda.

The call was echoed by the main opposition CHP party, with Sezgin Tanrikulu, its MP in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast saying on X the ECHR decision "is now final.. it must be implemented immediately."

One of Demirtas's lawyers said they had filed court papers demanding his immediate release.

"The appeals chamber can do two things: immediately release him.. or review the case on its merits," Mahsuni Karaman told Ilke TV.

Adding to the sense of optimism, Devlet Bahceli, head of the nationalist MHP party and a close Erdogan ally, appeared to back the release calls.

"Mr. Demirtas has achieved a result through legal means. His release will be a positive step for Turkey," he said in remarks broadcast by Turkish media.