The families of children abducted by the PKK terrorist group are readying to make their voices heard to the world with an international event as their sit-in protest in front of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in southeastern Diyarbakır province continues in its fourth year.
The first "International Child Watch: Diyarbakır Mothers Congress," organized by the Media Platform Association in cooperation with Türkiye’s Interior Ministry and the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, is slated to take place Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023, in Türkiye's Nevşehir province.
The Diyarbakır protests started when a mother, Hacire Akar, turned up at the doorstep of the HDP’s Diyarbakır office one night, demanding to be reunited with her son from the PKK. Akar’s son Mehmet returned home on Aug. 24, 2019, sparking hope for other families suffering from the same fate. A week later, on Sept. 3, families inspired by Akar staged a collective sit-in protest, which snowballed into a massive movement and spurred demonstrations in other provinces.
Over 300 families have been camping in front of the HDP headquarters since then, holding banners and pictures of their children taken away by the terrorists.
The HDP is generally accused of acting as the parliamentary front of the terrorist organization and because of this, the families have directed their protests and demands to their headquarters. Many also blame the party for becoming the focal point of actions violating the Turkish state’s "unbreakable unity" and having an "active role in providing personnel to the PKK."
Since the sit-in protest began, a significant number of suspected terrorists have fled the PKK and returned home, yet, many terrorists lack the courage to leave the group out of fear of severe punishment if caught. As a result, more parents are joining the resistance every other week.
Despite the occasional threats or ridicule from HDP officials and those linked to the PKK, or even the coronavirus pandemic, the group has been standing its ground. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has voiced support for the Diyarbakır mothers many times, arguing that human rights defenders of the West failed to come and visit the families or recognize their struggle.
According to the Media Platform Association, the event will host discussions on the new social movement, emotional labor, media sociology, belonging and faith, protesting stance, and women’s resistance, as well as analyses on children abducted and abused by the PKK.
The Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Nevşehir representative Mustafa Açıkgöz too urged all citizens to attend the event. "All mothers are always sacred to us; however, mothers separated from their children have a special place for us. We are grateful to President Erdoğan, his esteemed wife Mrs. Erdoğan, and our Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu for providing their support while organizing this event," Açıkgöz noted.
The congress coordinator professor Adem Palabıyık, hailed the Diyarbakır mothers’ struggle, saying it "managed to carry the region’s fight against terrorism into the civilian arena."
"We believe this event will seriously contribute to the fight against terrorism, whose civilian context has been missing. This child watch, which started with Mrs. Hacire Akar in 2019, where motherhood, the only existential practice against death, chose to give life to its child, has brought the HDP Diyarbakır Headquarters to its knees, so to speak," Palabıyık said.
He stressed that "the protesting stance of the mothers and women’s movement should be heard scientifically in the international sense and ... should express the civilian fight against terrorism."
The congress will feature speeches from various speakers, as well.
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group in the United States and the European Union alongside Türkiye. Since the 1980s, it has waged a bloody campaign against the country, massacring thousands of security personnel and civilians, including women and children. It has also evolved into a threat to the region's stability as it expanded its activities into northern Syria and Iraq across Türkiye’s borders.