Cumhuriyet daily journalist Ahmet Şık, who was recently released after spending around 500 days in jail, has announced his resignation from the Cumhuriyet daily and said he is planning to run for Parliament from the ranks of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
The Artı Gerçek news website reported on Wednesday that the HDP has named Şık as a candidate for member of Parliament in the upcoming elections.
Turkey will hold snap parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24, almost a year and half earlier than scheduled.
Şık tweeted on Thursday: “I am a candidate [for Parliament] in a sign of solidarity with all politicians, journalists, students and lawyers who have been taken hostage as well as the HDP’s presidential candidate, Selahattin Demirtaş, and his colleagues.”
Demirtaş, who is the HDP’s former co-chairperson, has been in pretrial detention since November 2016 along with many other HDP deputies and hundreds of HDP officials.
“I am a candidate for building a life where we will render the dreams of our children a reality,” Şık said in his message.
Şık was among 17 Cumhuriyet journalists and executives against whom charges were brought by Turkish prosecutors on accusations of aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) and the Gülen movement, which is accused by Turkish authorities of being behind a failed coup in 2016.
Şık was arrested in late 2016 and was released in March. No journalists from Cumhuriyet remain in prison as they have all been released after serving various jail terms.
