Parents protesting their children's abduction or forcible recruitment by the PKK terrorist organization continued their demonstration outside the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakır province on Monday, hoping to reunite with their children in 2022.
Families in Diyarbakır have camped for 861 days since Sept. 3, 2019, outside the Diyarbakır office of the HDP, a party the Turkish government says has links with the PKK.
Since then, demonstrations have spread to other provinces, including Van, Muş, Şırnak and Hakkari.
Sevgi Çağmar said her son Yavuz was a university student when he was tricked into joining the terrorist group in 2015.
"My son was abducted and taken by the HDP. We have been in pain for the past seven years. We, and all the mothers and fathers here, will not leave until we get back our children," she said.
Ekrem Gökkuş, whose son Okan was just 12 years old when he was abducted in 2017, said he joined the sit-in with the belief that he will soon be reunited with his child.
Both parents called on their children to escape the terrorist group and surrender to Turkish security forces.
In Turkey, offenders linked to terrorist groups are eligible for possible sentence reductions under a repentance law if they surrender.
The HDP, long facing public scrutiny and judicial probes over its ties to the PKK, is under pressure from the growing grassroots civilian movement. Various groups from around Turkey have supported the Kurdish mothers in their cause, with many paying visits to show their solidarity.
In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
