Tahir Demirtaş, father of Kurdish politicians Selahattin and Nurettin Demirtaş, has died in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) on Sunday. Tahir Demirtaş had suffered several heart attacks, most recently before the elections in Turkey in May. In November 2022, former HDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş, was flown from the Edirne high security prison in western Turkey to Amed, where he was able to visit his father in hospital for 45 minutes.

According to reports, Selahattin Demirtaş, former Co-Chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), did not request to attend the funeral due to his conditions as a “hostage”, but his loved ones and political figures did not leave the Demirtaş family alone.

Demirtaş sent a message from Edirne F Type Prison for his father and said, "Don't worry father, our heart is bigger than this cell. Give your blessing. I kiss your calloused, labouring hands a thousand times. May you rest in heaven. I send my thanks and greetings to everyone who conveyed their condolences and shared our pain."

In the meantime, Tahir Demirtaş was laid to rest in the Mardinkapı Cemetery in the central Yenişehir district of Amed. Demirtaş's family, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Saliha Aydeniz, Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları, DEM Party MPs Serhat Eren, Adalet Kaya, Sevilay Çelenk, Peace Mothers, members of DEM Party Provincial Organisation, DBP Diyarbakır Provincial Co-Chair Sultan Yaray, politician Ahmet Türk, lawyers from Diyarbakır Bar Association, Demirtaş’s lawyer Mahsuni Karaman, IHD Diyarbakır Branch Chair Ercan Yılmaz, CHP Diyarbakır MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu, representatives of non-governmental organisations, intellectuals and writers attended the farewell ceremony.