Turkish soldiers hand over terrorist's diary of remorse to family
by Daily Sabah
ISTANBULMay 20, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
May 20, 2016 12:00 am
Lines scrawled on a notebook left behind by a female terrorist in a terror-stricken town in the southeast made headlines earlier this week. Troops located the family of Zehra Kaya who penned her name at the end of the notebook and handed it to her parents who called on the woman to turn herself in.
Kaya's notebook has been widely circulated on social media and was full of emotional pleas to her family and relatives, calling them to forgive her for joining the PKK terrorist organization. She had written that she and others were simply "pawns" used by terrorist organization and were "destined to die." She urged whoever found the notebook to hand it to her family. The notebook was found by security forces combing an area in Nusaybin, a southeastern town in province of Mardin, after an operation against the PKK. The terrorist organization has been conducting attacks in the region since last summer, targeting the military, police officers and civilians. Hundreds have been killed in attacks, bombings and clashes perpetrated by the militants in the southeast. The PKK, claiming to fight for Kurdish self-rule in the region, recruits Kurdish youth to its cause, but disillusioned recruits occasionally surrender to authorities. Kaya was among those who volunteered to "go to the mountain," a phrase used to describe joining the PKK whose senior cadres are based in a mountainous region in northern Iraq.
The Turkish media published photos of soldiers visiting the family in their home in an undisclosed location and quoted her father, Mehmet Kaya, calling her daughter to turn herself in. "The state will forgive you. I know there are many out there [looking to get out of PKK] but they are scared. I call on my daughter to bring herself to justice. They will give you back to your family," he said.
If they surrender, militants benefit from a law that exempts them from punishment if they are not engaged in any armed attacks in Turkey.
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