Turkey's Erdogan: releasing Demirtas from jail out of question

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in his victory speech on Sunday that releasing former pro-Kurdish party leader Selahattin Demirtas, who he called a "terrorist," would not be possible under his governance.

Erdogan extended his two decades in power in elections on Sunday, winning a mandate to pursue increasingly authoritarian policies which have polarised Turkey and strengthened its position as a regional military power.

Demirtas has been jailed pending trial over terrorism charges, which he denies, since 2016.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Huseyin Hayatsever; editing by Deepa Babington)