Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Altan Tan, in an exclusive interview, admonished the PKK for the HDP's unexpected failure in the Nov. 1 elections in which it eked out 10.7 percent of the vote to pass the national election threshold.

"It was wrong that the PKK and the YDG-H [Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement] took the war to city centers and reduced democratic autonomy to self-defense and ditches," Tan said. Arguing that the people in these regions reacted against it on the very first day, Tan expressed his dissatisfaction with the PKK, further insisting on the mistake.

While the HDP has repeatedly come under fire for its reluctance to condemn the PKK and its deadly attacks, Tan claimed that the HDP was negatively affected by the PKK continuing its attacks due to the party's lack of power to influence the PKK.

Tan further added that the middle class in Diyarbakır, which according to him makes up 70 percent of the population, was scared of the PKK digging ditches and shutting down shops. He had previously argued that 84.2 percent of Kurds did not find it appropriate to dig ditches as part of the "so-called revolutionary people's war."

Meanwhile, security forces started to prioritize the elimination of the PKK's urban elements. Launching operations during curfews, security forces crack down on the PKK's urban branch and fill in ditches dug by the terrorists. The government firmly states that ongoing operations will continue determinedly until all PKK elements are eliminated and its arms and ammunition are buried.