Sit-in protest against terrorist PKK marks 3rd year in Diyarbakir, Turkey

By Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) – A sit-in protest in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir province, launched on Oct. 3, 2019, entered its third year with hundreds of people flocking to the protest site to demonstrate that the families have been striving to get their children back from the PKK terror group.

The protest initially began with a handful of mothers who started a sit-in outside the office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which they accused of playing a role in their children’s disappearance.

It grew day by day as many other parents were inspired to join the protest for the sake of their abducted or forcibly recruited children.

“I was here among the protesters since the very first beginning, and was eventually able to accomplish my goal,” said Aysegul Bicer, mother of Mustafa, who surrendered to security forces following her protest.

“All mothers are determined to fight as long as it takes so they could reunite with their children,” she said. “Nobody can question a mother’s love for her children.”

Along with Bicer, a total of 31 other families have also reunited with their children since the start of the protest.

At least 234 families have participated in the protest that also spread to some other provinces including Izmir on the Aegean coast, Van and Mus in the east, as well as southeastern Hakkari and Sirnak provinces.

Mothers holding similar protests in these provinces also joined others in Diyarbakir, saying all these protesting mothers were their inspiration.

The participants carried banners and chanted slogans such as “Turks-Kurds are brothers, PKK is the traitor!” “Mothers’ hearts will erase the PKK,” “Our children are not raised for the PKK,” “Enough with the HDP/PKK terrorism!”

Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanik, speaking at the event, said she had the utmost respect for the parents fighting to get back their children, and the Turkish state would continue to fight the terror elements.

Yanik noted that the terror group claimed to be fighting for the rights of Kurds, but its terror campaign has repeatedly targeted these people since the first day it was launched and the past 35 years brought nothing but blood and tears.

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