Families stage sit-in outside party office in SE Turkey

ANKARA

Four families on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest outside the provincial office of a Turkish opposition political party long accused by the government of having links to the PKK terror group.

Fevziye Cetinkaya claimed her 17-year-old son had joined the ranks of the terror group through members of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

She said she approached the police on Monday along with her husband Sahap Cetinkaya and filed a complaint.

"All I want from them [HDP members] is that my child be brought back to me," she said.

"They either hid my child here or took him somewhere else... I will not leave until my child is back," she added.

The father accused HDP members of encouraging their children to join the PKK.

"They send children of poor people [to PKK]... I want my son back, nothing else. We raised these children under hard conditions and sent them to schools," he said.

Later in the day, three other mothers -- who claim their children were kidnapped by the PKK affiliates -- joined in forces with Cetinkaya, and the number of protesting mothers climbed to four.

In addition, representatives of some NGOs paid a visit to the protesting mothers.

Yunus Memis, the provincial head of Memur-Sen union, said he was deeply disturbed that "some parties" encouraged indoctrination of children that lead to their recruitment to the terror group.

"Today, we learned that a 17-year-old high schooler was led to the mountains [referring to PKK camps] in the same way," he said. He called on families to protect their children against the terror group and urged all political parties to react to PKK oppression.

Ibrahim Gokdemir, the coordinator of Diyarbakir's Platform for Religious Freedom, hailed Hacire Akar's "historical resistance" against the terror group that inspired other mothers.

Stating that Akar breached in "HDP's walls of oppression" with her protest, he went on to say that this act was a "revolution".

Last month, another mother Hacire Akar staged a similar protest near the party's office. Her son returned home a few days later giving hope to a number of mothers who suffer the same circumstances.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.