Ferhat Encü, one of 12 pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies who were arrested in late 2016, has been released from jail.
Encü was arrested in a police operation on Nov. 4 along with eight other party deputies including the party’s Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. He was released from Kandıra Prison on Wednesday.
The number of HDP deputies who are behind bars has fallen to 11 with Encü’s release.
Turkey has stepped up its crackdown on Kurdish politicians in recent months. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while hundreds of local Kurdish politicians have been arrested on terror charges.
The developments have attracted widespread criticism from the region and Western countries.
