ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top ally, Devlet Bahceli, on Tuesday called for the release of Selahattin Demirtas, the country’s prominent Kurdish politician who has been behind bars for nearly 10 years, while pushing back against speculation of a rift with the president’s ruling party.

“Demirtas has achieved a result through legal means,” Bahceli told reporters at the Turkish parliament, referring to repeated European Court of Human Rights rulings calling for his immediate release. “His release would be beneficial for Turkey.”

Details: Bahceli leads the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Erdogan’s key political ally. His call comes amid ongoing peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and most Western countries. The PKK, which has fought for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey for roughly four decades, announced in May its intention to disarm as part of nearly two years of peace negotiations with its jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan. 

Demirtas’ Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) has acted as a bridge between Ocalan and Ankara, holding several meetings with the imprisoned leader over the past year, the most recent occurring on Monday.