Families continue anti-YPG/PKK protest in Turkey

By Mehmet Siddik Kaya

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - A long-running sit-in by families whose children have been kidnapped by YPG/PKK terrorists entered its 378th day on Monday.

The protest began on Sept. 3 last year in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, when Fevziye Cetinkaya, Remziye Akkoyun, and Aysegul Bicer 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 YPG/PKK terror group -- has been growing every day.

The grieving families have vowed to continue the protest until every family is reunited with their children.

One mother, Immihan Nilifirka, said her son Mehmet was a student at Ege University in the Aegean Izmir province and dreamed of becoming a news reporter before he was kidnapped.

"We'll continue our protest until there are no children left in the mountains. My son had two months to graduate from university. They took the pen from his hand, and took my son to the mountain," Nilifirka said.

Sevket Bingol, a father whose son was kidnapped in Istanbul six years ago when he was 14, said the HDP had made no statements on child abductions for a year.

He called his son, Tuncay, to surrender to security forces.

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

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 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar