Turkey: Another woman joins anti-YPG/PKK protest

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey

One more mother has joined the ongoing protest against the YPG/PKK terror group in Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey.

Blaming the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of kidnapping their children, a party also accused by the government of having links to the YPG/PKK, mothers of missing children started the protest outside the party’s office in Diyarbakir last September.

Naciye Ercan, a woman from Diyarbakir's Bismil district, was the latest to join the sit-in. She said her son, Yunus, was deceived and kidnapped by the terror group four years ago, when he was 15 years old.

Another man, Suleyman Aydin, who joined the protest earlier demanding the recovery of his kidnapped son, said they were all determined to continue the demonstration until their children returned safely.

Addressing HDP lawmakers, Aydin said: "If you tell the YPG/PKK to let our children go, we will end our protest immediately. This party [HDP] represents the YPG/PKK. All Kurds should wake up, they are using Kurdish children; they are sending kids who are 14 or 15 years old to the mountains."

Another woman, Sevdet Demir, who joined the protest for her son Fatih, said she would continue her protest until her son comes home.

"My son, run away and come back to me; 11 kids have returned and reunited with their families. Your family misses you so much," she said.

The protest was started on Sept. 3 last year by three women, Fevziye Cetinkaya, Remziye Akkoyun, and Aysegul Bicer, who said their children were forcibly recruited by YPG/PKK terrorists.

The number of families at protest has steadily increased over the past months.

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

The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

* Writing by Firdevs Bulut