Turkey: Another mother joins anti-PKK sit-in protest

By Mehmet Siddik Kaya

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - Another family on Tuesday joined the ongoing sit-in protest against the PKK terror group in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province, demanding the return of their abducted daughter.

The protest began on Sept. 3, 2019 in the city of Diyarbakir, when three mothers said their children had been forcibly recruited by YPG/PKK terrorists.

The sit-in outside the office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) -- which the government accuses of having links to the terrorist YPG/PKK -- has been growing every day.

Necmiye Aybar, whose daughter was abducted by the terror group 10 years ago when she was just 13 years old, joined the sit-in protest on its 449th day.

Aybar, who came from the southeastern province of Hakkari to join the protest, said she decided to join the protest after seeing it on the television while expressing longing for her daughter Zilan.

Speaking in Kurdish, Aybar told local reporters that she has been searching for her daughter for 10 years and had no luck.

"Please surrender yourself, my girl. I have not washed your t-shirt for 10 years, I smell your scent from it," the mother Aybar cried.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU -has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

*Writing by Merve Aydogan in Ankara.