Two people accused of recruiting a high school student for the terrorist PKK were arrested in the eastern province of Bitlis yesterday. The province's governorate announced that police stopped a car on a tip-off in the Tatvan district. The high school student, who was identified as Ö.D., told police she was being brought to a hideout of the terrorist organization by two other occupants of the car. Suspects were arrested on charges of membership in a terrorist organization and recruiting for the terrorist organization while the young girl was handed back to her family.
The PKK denies recruiting children despite claims from families of children as young as 13. Last year, dozens of families staged a lengthy sit-in in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır, calling on the PKK to return their children who were persuaded to join the terrorist organization. A small number of children have turned themselves in to Turkish security forces on the Turkish-Iraqi border so far.
