1 more family joins anti-PKK sit-in in southeastern Türkiye

DIYARBAKIR/MUS, Türkiye

A sit-in in Türkiye’s southeastern Diyarbakir province continues to grow as one more family joined the protest against the PKK terror group.

Since Sept. 3, 2019, the protesting families have been camping outside the offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a party the Turkish government says has links to the PKK.

Hatun Yuceyurt said her son Serdar was “taken to the mountains” by the PKK terror group when he was 15.

Yuceyurt told reporters that she was watching the sit-in on TV and decided to join the protest to make her voice heard.

“My son left the house saying 'I'm going to play football'. I haven't heard from him for years,” she said.

Demonstrations have also spread to other provinces, including Van, Mus, Sirnak, and Hakkari.

Anti-PKK protest in Mus province

Besides Diyarbakir, families also continued their anti-terror sit-in in Türkiye’s eastern Mus province.

Ayten Kochan, a protesting mother in the province, said that they have been protesting for 61 weeks straight.

“They shall bring our children back in a way they took them,” Kochan stated, adding: “Mothers have cried enough. Let our children turn back.”

“We are here no matter how the weather is,” she underscored, mentioning that the families will continue their protests until each and every parent reunited with their beloved children.

Semsettin Ozcan, a father in the anti-PKK protest, said that they have been longing for their children.

“HDP kidnapped our children and handed them to the PKK,” he stressed.

Calling on all the kidnapped children to lay down arms and surrender to Turkish security forces, Ozcan emphasized that they will not leave the protest area until they get their children back.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

The protest has borne fruit as dozens of children forcibly abducted or recruited by the terror group fled the PKK and reunited with their families.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar and Merve Berker