Anti-PKK sit-in protest continues in southeastern Turkey

By Osman Bilgin

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - Families of children abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK terrorist group continued their protest in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday.

The families in the Diyarbakir province have been protesting for 695 days, since Sept. 3, 2019, encouraging their children to lay down their weapons and surrender to Turkish authorities.

The protest outside the offices of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Diyarbakir started with three mothers who said their children had been forcibly recruited by the terrorists.

The Turkish government says the HDP has links to the terrorist PKK, and has filed a court case to have the party banned over these ties.

Mevlude Ucdag, one of the protesting mothers, said she will not leave the sit-in until she reunites with her son.

Noting that they will continue to protest with determination, Ucdag said: “We will not leave without taking our son back. The PKK is in a disintegration process. Kidnapped children are running away from the hands of the PKK. They see the protesting mothers here are right in their cause and the HDP is guilty.”

Ucdag said: “My son, if you see or hear me, add your voice to mine. I will wait for you here. My door is all open for you.”

“Come, free yourself from that hell,” she added.

Suleyman Aydin, one of the protesting fathers, said: “We are all here waiting for our children’s return.”

Calling on his son Ozkan Aydin to surrender to the security forces, Aydin said they will keep protesting with determination until the very end.

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

*Writing by Merve Berker