Writing for the PKK newspaper, Özgür Gündem, one of the terrorist organization's leaders, Mustafa Karasu, accused the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of laxity in the face of arrests of HDP mayors. Karasu also slammed calls from the HDP to return to the reconciliation table.

Writing for the daily under the pseudonym, Hüseyin Ali, Karasu criticized recent calls from HDP figures to restart the reconciliation process. "Even though saying the reconciliation process should be restarted or this problem should be solved through negotiation from time-to-time has a political meaning, it has no practical value," he said.

Calling the arrests of HDP mayors – accused of aiding and abetting the PKK over the course of counterterror operations – in the southeast a political massacre, Kaya said the HDP should raise its game in the face of this "political massacre."

"Right now, instead of wasting time by creating expectations and such remarks, struggle against this kind of political massacre should be stepped up," he asserted.

Blaming the HDP for not doing enough to prevent mayors from being arrested, Karasu pointed to lax policies. "Actually, until now the HDP and the BDP had adopted a lax, incorrect attitude toward political massacre operations," he said. HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş and Ankara deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder in late March requested a return to the negotiation table with the government, a move that was interpreted as an attempt to stop the massive losses by the PKK.