Another family joins anti-PKK sit-in in SE Turkey

By Mehmet Siddik Kaya

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - One more family joined the ongoing sit-in against the PKK terror group in southeastern Turkey on Monday.

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

The protest outside the office 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.

Fahriye Ibin, who came from the southeastern Batman province to join the sit-in, said her two sons, Mustafa and Mehmet, were forcibly recruited by terrorists in 2012 and 2015, respectively.

She called on the PKK and HDP to return her sons.

“I am here for sake of my children,” she said, adding she had never heard from them since they disappeared.

Protesting families chanted slogans against the PKK and HDP.

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 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas