2 more families join anti-PKK protest in Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey

Two more families joined the ongoing sit-in against the YPG/PKK terror group in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday.

Families of children abducted or forcibly recruited by the terror group have been protesting since Sept. 3, 2019, in 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 YPG/PKK, was started by three mothers who said their children were forcibly recruited by the terror group.

Hayriye Akyuz, who is from Diyarbakir, said her brother, Ensari Karasan, was a university student when he was abducted by the terror group three years ago.

“My brother was deceived by the HDP and sent to the terrorist organization.
We have not heard from him since then,” she said, urging her sibling to surrender to security forces.

Suphiye Yakut, who came from the southeastern Batman province to join the protest, said she still has hope of seeing her son, Idris, again.

She said her son disappeared just 10 days after he returned home from working in the Aegean province of Izmir.

“I love my son dearly. I will not leave this place without my son. I want my son back from the PKK and the HDP. May God perish the PKK,” said the distressed mother.

Necibe Cifci, a mother who has been part of the protest for a while, said all the families are determined not to give up.

“We will not leave this building until our children are brought back to us,” she said, adding that the HDP and the PKK must return their children.

She also called on her son to surrender to Turkish security forces.

Sevket Bingol, a father at the protest, said he wants the HDP to bring back his son.

“The children of all these families at this protest were tricked by the HDP and sent to the mountains. We will continue our struggle until the very end and, with God’s help, we will get back our children,” he said.

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. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

* Writing by Merve Berker