March 23, 2016•Update: March 28, 2016
BITLIS, Turkey
The father of a young woman who joined the terrorist organization PKK and was killed in a counter-terrorism operation earlier this month has criticized the terror group for “fooling” young people.
Gulistan Aysal, 20, was killed in Sur, an historic neighborhood of Diyarbakir, the largest city in southeast Turkey, on March 10.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency after her funeral in Bitlis, a southeastern provincial capital, on Wednesday, Feyzullah Aysal said he not had any contact with his daughter since late last year.
He had believed she was working in a textile factory in Istanbul.
“I am Kurdish and a citizen of the Republic of Turkey and I am proud of it,” he said. “I am against the terrorist organization. I have been hurt and I wish no-one else experiences it.”
Feyzullah accused the PKK of tricking his daughter into joining the group on Nov. 22 but did not elaborate.
“I want everyone to keep an eye out for this trick,” he said. “They take children by fooling them. All of the children are aged between 15 and 20.”
Condemning the PKK’s return to violence after the end of a tentative three-year lull in terrorist attacks in July, Feyzullah said: "I don't believe that it is an action for Kurds. We haven't heard from her for several months and learned that she was taken after getting tricked by the organization."
For the funeral on the outskirts of Bitlis, Feyzullah had requested a police presence to prevent the PKK from turning the ceremony into a propaganda event.
Officers were on hand to screen mourners amid fears some PKK terrorists would attempt to infiltrate the funeral.
Police chief Fatih Kaya thanked Feyzullah for his behavior during the ceremony.
Sur, where the female terrorist was killed, has been the scene of recent heavy fighting between the PKK and the Turkish security forces. It is among several districts in southeast Turkey that have been subjected to counter-terrorism operations to root out the PKK in recent months.
In Sur, the longest-running of the anti-terror measures imposed in December, security forces imposed a round-the-clock curfew and removed booby-trap explosives and barriers built by the PKK to seal off the neighborhood.
Since the PKK, which is also listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU, resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July. More than 300 members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of terrorists killed.
