By Omer Koparan
ALEPPO, Syria (AA) - The terrorist group PKK/YPG recently kidnapped a 13-year-old boy in Aleppo, Syria by force, local sources told Anadolu.
The PKK/YPG took him from Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood against his will to a so-called training camp for armed education, said the sources, who did not want to be identified due to fears of personal safety.
The PKK/YPG continues to forcibly separate children from their families in the areas it occupies in Syria, aiming to get them involved in combat, in violation of international law, according to local sources.
Countries such as the US, international organizations, and human rights groups have documented how the PKK/YPG forcefully conscripts children into armed activities.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is its Syrian branch.
- Terrorist organization forcibly recruited 1,200 children in 2022
The UN, in its Children in Armed Conflict report for 2022, said the terrorist group PKK, along with its Syrian extensions the SDF and YPG, used more than 1,200 children as "combatants" during the year.
The report said the terrorist SDF recruited 637 children, while various structures affiliated with the PKK/YPG and SDF took 633 children into their ranks.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern in the report over the use of children as fighters by the YPG/PKK and called for an end to this practice, urging the release of all minors within their ranks.
Despite signing a text in 2019 with the UN on "The release of children within the organization and their non-use in armed conflicts," PKK/YPG leaders, including Mazlum Abdi (Ferhat Abdi Sahin), persist in these activities in violation of international law.