Another family joins anti-PKK sit-in in eastern Türkiye

By Yilmaz Kazandioglu and Nazli Timur

VAN, Türkiye (AA) - Another family joined Thursday the ongoing protest against the PKK terror group in eastern Türkiye, bringing the number to 34 in Van province.

Sahin Salim said he joined because his older brother was kidnapped by the terror group in 2014 when he was just 14.

“My brother was kidnapped when he was at school and taken to the mountain. That’s why I decided to take part in this protest,” said Salim.

“I will be here until the end,” he said as he encouraged his brother to lay down his arms. “They are deceiving you over there. My mother and father are suffering miserably. Come and surrender.”

Another protester, Aynur Arslan, who is a part of the sit-in for her husband’s brother, said demonstrators have been protesting for two years straight.

She said everyone wants the same thing: The reunion of families with their beloved children. Arslan said her brother-in-law was 25 and studying engineering at a university when the PKK deceived him.

“Our only wish from him is to come and surrender, to turn back to his home. They will not make anything good at the mountain,” she said, urging other children to return.

Since Sept. 3, 2019, families whose children have been abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK have camped outside the Diyarbakir offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) -- a party the Turkish government said has links with the terror group.

Demonstrations have since spread to other provinces, including Van, Mus, Sirnak and Hakkari.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

*Writing by Merve Berker