DTP co-chairman Nurretin Demirtas was arrested on December 17 at Esenboga Airport, Ankara, when he came back from Europe. It is claimed that he had used of a "fake health report" to avoid military service. Demirtas was imprisoned on December 18.
Demirtas had been in Europe for some time for different reasons. The bourgeois media spread the lie that he had fled to Europe, he was declared a terrorist and was made the target of a political lynching campaign. Lastly, he had joined the rally for brotherhood organised in Dusseldorf, Germany where he hold a speech, and finally returned to Turkey. He was immediately arrested at the airport and taken to the Local Commandership of the Gendarmerie, Ankara. After a health check Demirtas was taken to the airforce`s military court and decided to be detained at the Military Prison, Sincan.