Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-president Selahattin Demirtaş issued a statement from prison after the bomb action in İstanbul and the arrests of HDP and DBP politicians. Demirtaş said:

"The arrests of HDP administrators, parliamentarians and members have increased recently. I should say that these detentions and arrests are not lawful. Our friends should be released. The AKP government is trying to deflect the responsibility to the HDP through its operations, but we will neither accept nor allow this.

We will resign immediately if they can substantiate their accusations and prove that we are responsible for the bombing, whose perpetrators are supposedly captured. The AKP has the political responsibility for the bombs that are exploding, and should account before the public. They should account everywhere including the parliament. They are the ones that are running the country.

We strongly insist on democratic politics. Problems can be resolved through democratic politics. Politicians should facilitate the parliament in order to produce solutions, as opposed to making the parliament dysfunctional. Democratic politics and peace is our path, and we insist on this. We will not back down from our position. "