Germany: Mother pleads for help saving daughter from PKK

DORTMUND, Germany (AA) - A Kurdish mother has asked support from the German public on Wednesday to rescue her daughter from the PKK terror group.

Remziye O. posted several messages and videos on social media, saying a Cologne-based cultural association has been responsible for the forced recruitment of her daughter Nese, who has been missing since Jan. 5.

“Please help me. They haven't let me see my daughter since January,” she said, adding that she personally visited the “Mala Kurda“ association in Cologne, but was not given any contact information to reach her daughter.

They only told me that she was brought to the mountains, the mother said, referring to the terrorist camps in northern Syria and Iraq.

Dozens of young people from Kurdish immigrant families have been abducted or forcefully recruited in recent years by the PKK terror group, which uses various cultural associations in Germany as cover organizations to continue its recruitment and propaganda activities.

The PKK has been classified as an “ethno-nationalist” and “separatist” terrorist organization by the EU's law enforcement agency EUROPOL, and has been banned in Germany since 1993.

But, it has nearly 14,500 followers among the country’s Kurdish immigrant population, according to the annual report of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency BfV.

Ankara has long criticized Berlin for not taking serious measures against the PKK and its affiliates, which use the country as a platform for fund-raising, recruitment, and propaganda.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.