Courageous mother in Germany wants her daughter back from PKK

BERLIN

Every Wednesday, a German-Turkish mother stages a protest in front of the Federal Chancellery to raise awareness about the PKK terrorist group’s forced recruitment of young people and children.

Maide T., who is seeking help from the German government for the rescue of her daughter, has been trying to catch the attention of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who arrive at the Chancellery every Wednesday for the weekly Cabinet meeting.

A group of sympathizers also support her by holding a banner saying: "The PKK is a virus. Help me save my child."

Maide T. told reporters on Wednesday that she will travel to Turkey to meet mothers staging a sit-in in the southeastern province Diyarbakir. Their children were abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK.

“We all hope to be able to see our children again. Our common struggle is to rescue our children from the terror group,” she said.

According to Maide T, her daughter Nilufer T. has been missing since November 2019.

Nilufer T. was influenced by the propaganda of the PKK after visiting a cultural center in Berlin, which was used by the terrorist group for brainwashing young people and recruiting them to the group, she said.

The PKK has been classified as an “ethno-nationalist” and “separatist” terrorist organization by the EU's law enforcement agency Europol and has been banned in Germany since 1993.

But it remains active in the country, with nearly 14,500 followers among the country's immigrant population.

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

In its more than 35-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, infants, and children.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk