Families' sit-in against PKK terror group continues

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey

A group of aggrieved families in southeastern Turkey continued a sit-in protest Monday against the YPG/PKK terror group for the 350th day.

The protest began on Sept. 3 last year in the city of Diyarbakir, when Fevziye Cetinkaya, Remziye Akkoyun and Aysegul Bicer said their children had been forcibly recruited by the PKK terrorists.

The sit-in outside the office of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) -- which the government accuses of having links to YPG/PKK -- has been growing day by day with the participation of many others since then.

Protesters have vowed to remain at the sit-in until every family reunites with their child.

Zekiye Bozdag, one of the protestors, said his brother Suleyman Cetinkaya was deceived and kidnapped by the HDP on Aug. 30, 2019.

“What do you want from these children? Why don't you send your own children [to mountains], what do you want from the children of poor families?” Bozdag said, urging all the kidnapped people to run away from the terrorists.

Suleyman Aydin, whose son was kidnapped in Sur district when he was 15, said he has not heard from him for five years. Aydin asked the HDP’s members of parliaments to support the families of these missing people.

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 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