Kurdish opposition condemns YPG/PKK's abduction, recruitment of girls

By Esref Musa and Ethem Emre Ozcan

TAL ABYAD, Syria (AA) - A Kurdish opposition group in Syria on Thursday condemned the abduction of three teenage girls by the YPG/PKK terror group with the aim of forcibly recruiting them.

In a written statement, the Kurdish National Council (ENKS) said the YPG/PKK, which calls itself the SDF, have abducted many children from their families to recruit them into its armed group.

The SDF brand has been extensively used by the Western governments and media to dissociate the Syrian branch YPG with the PKK, which is recognized as a terror outfit by Turkey, the US, and the EU.

US support for the YPG-led SDF has significantly strained relations with Ankara.

"As the Kurdish National Council, we strongly condemn the SDF's (Nov. 21) kidnapping of girls," read the statement.

Calling on the UN and other rights groups to protect rights of children, the ENKS called on international coalition forces supporting the YPG/PKK's front organization to pressure them to halt abductions.

On Nov. 21, YPG/PKK terrorists held three 15-year-old girls -- Hediyye Abdurrahim Anter, Evin Jalal Halil, and Ayana Idris Ibrahim -- in the town of Amuda in al-Hasakah province to forcibly recruit them as "child fighters."

The terror group had previously held four other children, aged 13 and 16, in August.

The YPG/PKK takes the children it abducts to so-called training camps in al-Hasakah.

The terror group's training and use of children as fighters have been repeatedly documented in UN reports.