Mother seeks help from Merkel to rescue daughter

BERLIN

A German-Turkish mother has called on Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday to help mothers who struggle to rescue their children from the terrorist PKK group.

Maide T. told reporters in front of the Chancellory that she would continue demonstrations to get her voice heard by Merkel and the government.

“Please help us to rescue our children. Monitor cultural associations used by the PKK. These are not cultural houses, these are the houses of the PKK,” she said, stressing that the outlawed group has been using such cultural centers in Germany for brainwashing children, and recruiting them to the group.

She said her daughter Nilufer T. was influenced by the propaganda of the PKK after visiting a cultural house in Berlin last year, kidnapped by the group last November, and probably sent to a terror camp abroad.

“If they will come under pressure, they will release my daughter within 24 hours” she said, urging German authorities to take action against the group.

The PKK has been banned in Germany since 1993, but it remains active, with nearly 14,500 followers among the country's Kurdish immigrant population.

Turkey has long criticized German authorities for not taking serious measures against the terrorist group which uses the country as a platform for their fundraising, recruitment and propaganda activities.

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