Families' protest against PKK continues in Hakkari, SE Turkey

By Sayim Harmanci and Hikmet Temes

HAKKARI, Turkey (AA) - Families in southeastern Turkey whose children were abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK terror group continued to protest on Thursday.

Holding the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which the government accuses of terror ties, responsible for the abduction of their sons and daughters, the families have been staging demonstrations outside the party's local office in the Hakkari province for 15 weeks.

Gathering on a central street in the provincial center with banners, placards, and photographs of their children and other relatives, they marched to the HDP office, hoping their children will hear their protest and turn themselves over to security forces.

Leyla Ciftci, whose brother-in-law was abducted by the PKK, read a statement on behalf of all protesting families and said everyone should understand the true face of the terror group and its supporters.

Ciftci said the mothers at the demonstration were heartbroken and that their sons and daughters had the right to life just as everyone else.

"We want our children back from the HDP," she said.

She went on to say the families believed their resolute stance would eventually overcome all of what she called "dark organizations."

"The PKK will lose, the mothers will triumph. When the PKK loses, no other mother will be heartbroken and the death and blood will stop," she said.

Ciftci further noted that the families urged everyone whose relatives were similarly abducted to join their protest so it grows bigger to help reunite them with their loved ones.

The families chanted slogans against the PKK and HDP and staged a sit-in protest before leaving the area.

In another southeastern province, Diyarbakir, families have also been staging a sit-in province outside the HDP office for roughly three years. So far, 28 families have reunited with their children.

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