Ankara, Jan 4 () - Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is planning to hold rallies in favor of “autonomy” and “self-rule” before the end of January, at a time when one of its co-chairs is being investigated over his call for greater Kurdish self-governance.

The HDP’s general convention is scheduled to be held on Jan. 24 and the party will hold a conference before the convention along with its constituents, HDP officials said.

“Autonomy” and “self-rule,” two concepts embraced at a recent convention of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), an association of Kurdish political organizations, will also be discussed during this conference, they added.

HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş was one of the participants in a two-day congress of Kurdish groups that called for more self-governance, during which he said “there will be a Kurdistan in the next century and it could include an independent state.” A prosecutor opened an investigation into Demirtaş on Dec. 28 over his call, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also said over the weekend that he supports criminal probes into HDP leaders over their comments about self-rule.