Turkey: Anti-PKK sit-in enters 574th day

By Mehmet Siddik Kaya

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - Families of children abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK terror group continue their sit-in protest in southeastern Turkey on the 574th day.

Families of children abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK terror group have been protesting for more than one and a half years in the Diyarbakir province, calling on their children to lay down arms and surrender to authorities.

The protest outside the offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which the government accuses of having links to the PKK, was started by three mothers on Sept. 3, 2019.

Nadire Cakan, a mother whose son, Muhammed, was abducted in 2011 at the age of 13, said she would not leave the protest site until she gets her son back. Cakan said Muhammed was abducted while going to his school.

Hatice Levent, another protesting mother, said her daughter, Fadime, was abducted by the terror group.

“What do they want from our children? Why did they abduct our children?” she questioned, and said she misses her daughter.

Levent called on her daughter to surrender to Turkish security sources.

So far, at least 24 families have been reunited with their children, who fled the terror group and surrendered to Turkish security forces.

Offenders who are linked to terrorist groups and surrender are eligible for possible sentence reductions under a repentance law in Turkey.

In its more than 35-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 at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas