Another family joins anti-PKK sit-in in SE Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey

One more family joined the ongoing sit-in against the PKK terror group in southeastern Turkey on Sunday.

Families of children abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK terror group have been protesting for more than a year in Diyarbakir province, calling on their children to lay down their arms and surrender to authorities.

The protest outside the office of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which the government accuses of having links to the PKK, was started by three mothers on Sept. 3, 2019.

Besime Alturk, a woman who came from the southeastern province of Gaziantep to join the protest, said her daughter, Sehriban, had been kidnapped by the terrorist group seven years ago at the age of 22, while studying medicine in the eastern Van province.

Mother Alturk said that while making preparations for their son's wedding in July 2014, her daughter had been deceived and taken to the mountains where the terror group operates.

"She was a medical student in her fourth year. She said she would go to Van and come a week before the Ramadan feast," she said, referring to the Muslim holy month.

Alturk said she has yet to hear from her daughter. "I want my daughter. The HDP has to bring my daughter to me."

Urging her daughter to surrender to security forces, the lamenting mother said: "I've been receiving psychological treatment for years. I have two sons and I try to stand for them. Please come back, my daughter, we're waiting for you. We miss you so much."

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