Mother desperate to reunite with child kidnapped by US-backed PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Syria

By Mehmer Burak Karacaoglu and Omer Koparan

ISTANBUL (AA) – Suad Hac Kalef, a mother whose son was kidnapped by the terrorist organization PKK/YPG supported by the US in the Ayn-al Arab district in northern Syria, said she wanted her child back, adding that her son wanted to be a doctor and serve humanity.

The PKK/YPG continues its practice of forcibly recruiting children by kidnapping them in the areas it occupies in Syria.

The terrorist organization does not allow the families of the children it forcibly takes to communicate with them.

These children, who are trained in armed camps, are used in the terrorist activities of the organization.

The US-supported terrorist organization PKK/YPG is shattering the dreams of both parents and their children in the areas it occupies.

Suad Hac Kalef’s 15-year-old son Ahmet Kalef was held in Ayn-al Arab by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization.

Kalef’s husband died four years ago when he stepped on a landmine while working in the fields in the occupied Ayn-al Arab.

Kalef, who was trying to provide a decent life for her son by working in the fields, has been going through difficult times after her child was kidnapped by PKK/YPG terrorists.

- ‘My son is not a fighter’

Kalef, who learned from her neighbors that her child had been kidnapped by terrorists, told Anadolu: "I looked down every street like crazy. At the time my son went out, a terror group called Shebibe Sevriye (PKK/YPG’s branch), affiliated with the organization, was patrolling. They took my child away that time."

Kalef said she went to the organization several times to find out her son's fate and added: "They turned me away every time. I gave them (PKK/YPG) $500. They told me he was in the Ferhat Halil training camp in Kobani (Ayn-al Arab). I went there too and asked for my son to be given to me, but they didn't."

She said her son was very young and needed to go to school, and she conveyed this to the leaders of the organization. But she added: "They didn't accept it. They didn't give me my child. They took my child away from me. Is this the democratic structure they never stop talking about? I want my son back. I don't want anything else. My son is not a fighter; he doesn't know how to fight. All that remains of my son are his photos; he has nothing to do with war."

- ‘He wanted to be a doctor’

Kalef said: "After my husband died, my son and I were left alone. I was working in the fields so that he could have a proper life and go to school. He wanted to be a doctor."

She added: "Our whole life turned upside down when they took my son to a training camp. It was as if they took my soul away from me. My son knew nothing but notebooks, pencils, and school. I have no one else but him. They took him to fight, while he dreamt of becoming a doctor, and be useful to everyone."

- UN document

Virginia Gamba, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special representative on children in armed conflicts, signed an action plan prepared "for the release of child fighters within the organization" on June 29, 2019, but without the knowledge of the member states.

Ankara later issued a protest note to the UN on the matter.

The UN Human Rights Council revealed in a report released on Jan. 16, 2020, that PKK/YPG terrorists are using children as "fighters" in Syria.

The fact that the terror group forces children to fight was also mentioned in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report released by the US State Department on June 26, 2020.

The YPG continued to forcibly recruit and use even 12-year-old boys and girls from asylum camps in northwestern Syria, the report said.

The UN prepared the Children in Armed Conflict report for the period of January-December 2022, blaming the terrorist organization PKK and the Syrian extension SDF and YPG for using more than 1,200 children as "soldiers" in 2022.

According to the report, the Syrian branch of the PKK, the SDF, recruited 637 children, while the PKK/YPG and SDF-affiliated organizations recruited 633 children to their armed staff.

Guterres, whose views were included in the report, expressed how “extremely concerned” he feels about the use of children as "soldiers" by the PKK/YPG.

“I invite them to stop using children as soldiers and for different purposes and release all the children in their ranks,” the report said, quoting the UN chief.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terrorist PKK's Syrian branch.