Demirtas releases message on cruel treatment of Kurdish father

Selahattin Demirtas, the jailed former co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), posted a message on Twitter Friday, protesting against the inhuman treatment of a Kurdish father by Turkish authorities who handed over the remains of his long-missing son in a plastic bag.

Ali Riza Arslan was handed the remains of his son Hakan Arslan, killed during clashes between Kurdish activists and Turkish state forces in Diyarbakir's Sur district and buried there seven years ago, in a sack following a DNA analysis.

While many people reacted to that kind of attitude through their messages of protest on the social media, a large group of people expressed support for it.

Demirtas said in his Tweet:

"If a polarization of the society is unavoidable, let the people who believe in democracy and human values be on one side, and fascists and robbers on the other side. One must choose between those who had Uncle Ali Riza go through that suffering and enjoyed his suffering, and the others who felt his suffering deep in their hearts."