Southeast Turkey: Anti-terror sit-in enters day 245

By Aziz Aslan

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - A sit-in protest by families in southeastern Turkey entered its 245th day on Monday demanding a terrorist-linked political party free their children from the YPG/PKK terror group.

The protesters, camped outside the office of a Turkish opposition party in Diyarbakir province, are demanding that their children kidnapped by the YPG/PKK terrorists be returned.

Dozens of mothers launched the protest on Sept. 3, 2019, outside the offices of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a party accused by the government of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group.

Solmaz Ovunc, one of the mothers, said her son Baran had been kidnapped by the terror group in 2015 when he was only 15 years old.

Calling on her child to return and surrender to security forces, Ovunc said: "They stole your pen and your dreams."

Another protester, Suleyman Aydin, whose son Ozkan was also abducted at the age of 15, said they had been protesting for 245 days.

In its more than 30-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 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan