The family of Şenay Aybüke Yalçın, a teacher who was killed by the PKK terrorist group three years ago, remembered their daughter on her birthday Thursday in the Black Sea province of Karabük.

The 22-year-old music teacher was killed in a bomb attack in southeastern Turkey’s Batman province.

Aybüke’s father, Sadık Yalçın told reporters, “This was Aybüke’s fourth birthday since the terrorist attack took her life on June 9, 2017.”

“The treacherous attempts of the curse known as the PKK that has plagued our country for 40 years now have left many mothers and fathers distraught,” he said, adding they are one of those grieving families.

“Every moment of her absence gives us pain,” he added.

He said Aybüke was always excited about her birthdays and would ask about the preparations being made for her.

“She would not ask for much. She usually celebrated her birthday with her friends. She liked to celebrate it among a crowd,” he added.Sevda Helvacı, Aybüke’s roommate and classmate at her university, said they lived together for four years.

Helvacı said Aybüke was a very active and cheerful person.Yalçın fell victim to the terrorists on her way home after the last day of school. The car she was in was hit by stray bullets as terrorists shot assault rifles, targeting a nearby car belonging to a local mayor in the Kozluk district of the province. The terrorists’ target was another vehicle carrying lawyer Muhammet Işık, the nephew of Mayor Veysi Işık. Heavily injured in the attack, Yalçın eventually died in the hospital. The killing of the young teacher, who was in her first teaching post in Batman, had a major impact across the country.

The perpetrator of the attack was killed in March 2018 by Turkish security forces.

The PKK terrorist group, which has been delivered a major blow by the Turkish military’s counterterrorism operations, still continues to target civilians, pursuing its 40-year-old practices of brutal terrorist attacks.Failing to confront the security forces due to its lack of power, the PKK turns its attention to innocent civilians, trying to establish control over the people through psychological pressure and unabating attacks.

The attacks of the group do not discriminate between women and children, as the innocent are often the victims of its terrorist attacks.

Apart from civilians, the terrorist group also targets certain professions in frequent attacks. One of the professions that became a constant target of the PKK over the years is teachers. The first attack on teachers took place on Sept. 11, 1994, when six teachers in Tunceli were fusilladed by the terrorists. A month after this incident, five teachers were kidnapped by the PKK in eastern Erzurum province, four of whom were killed later on.

Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence.The forces have adopted “ending terrorism at its root” and “attack rather than defense” strategies for its operations across the country.