UPDATE - Turkish mothers' protest of PKK terrorists kidnapping their children enters 4th year

UPDATES WITH NUMBER OF FAMILIES PART OF PROTEST

By Omer Yasin Ergin

DIYARBAKIR, Türkiye (AA) – A groundbreaking anti-terror protest in Türkiye’s southeastern Diyarbakir province entered its fourth year on Thursday as families refuse to leave until they are reunited with their children, who they say were abducted by the terrorist group PKK.

Since Sept. 3, 2019, the protesting families have been camping outside regional offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a party the Turkish government says has links to the PKK.

The number of protesting families, all yearning to be reunited with their beloved children, currently stands at 304.

Hatice Demir, a mother who joined the sit-in on Thursday, said she remains hopeful of seeing her sons, who were abducted six years ago in Türkiye’s southeastern Gaziantep province.

On the 1,095th day of the protest, to date a total of 37 families have gotten their children back from the terrorist clutches of the PKK.

Distraught mother Hacire Akar started the protest on Aug. 22, 2019 for her son, and ultimately was successful, setting an example for others who also want to reach out to their kidnapped children.

Mehmet Lacin, a protesting father, said he joined the protest for his daughter, and continued the sit-in even in Türkiye’s Aegean province of Izmir where he had to go for an operation.

Then he traveled the 600 kilometers (373 miles) from Izmir to the capital Ankara by foot in the name of his beloved daughter.

With each passing day, there has been an increase in the number of families who decided to take part in the anti-terror protest for their children.

The protest spread to other provinces both at home and abroad, including the eastern Turkish provinces of Mus and Van, and all the way to Berlin. However, the protest in the German capital was short lived to governmental indifference.

- HDP hides from harsh spotlight

In the face of the protests, the HDP tried to shut down its offices in some provinces for a while to avoid having to face families yearning for their children.

Afterwards, the political party moved its activities from provincial buildings to district buildings.

The PKK terror group – which Türkiye’s government says is linked to the HDP – has tried other ways to make families give up their fight. While some families were threatened, others saw their children speaking on PKK-affiliated media outlets, saying that they had to end the sit-in.

But the young people who escaped the PKK and surrendered to Turkish security forces later admitted that the terror group forced them to read out those words.

Thanks to a host of successful counter-terror operations and persuasion efforts carried out by Turkish security forces, PKK terror members keep laying down arms.

The number of terrorists who have laid down their arms through persuasion efforts this year alone stands at 75, according to official figures.

In Türkiye, offenders linked to terror groups who surrender are eligible for possible sentence reductions under a repentance law.

The PKK terror group, battered and demoralized by Turkish security forces’ successful operations, has been in recent years losing members and failing to attract recruits, according to Turkish officials.

The sit-in received great support from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, members of the European Parliament, and the ambassadors to Türkiye of Ukraine, the UK, India, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria.

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

* Writing by Merve Berker