Woman whose daughter was kidnapped by PKK in Germany visits protest in Turkey

By Aziz Aslan

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AA) - A woman whose daughter was kidnapped by the PKK terrorist organization in Germany visited a sit-in protest against the PKK in southeastern Turkey on Monday.

Maide T, who recently joined the anti-PKK sit-in from Germany, said she decided to visit the protest for her daughter.

She told media outlets that has been protesting against the terrorist group for 93 days since her daughter was abducted.

She said she is continuing a protest that she started in Europe to support the Diyarbakir mothers as well as to receive their support.

She underlined that the mothers’ struggle against the terrorist organization had started in Diyarbakir, adding that “coming here was incumbent upon me. The fact that this place started action was an example for all of us. I hope that these examples will continue.”

Families in Diyarbakir province have been protesting since Sept. 3, 2019, or 651 days, encouraging their children who were abducted or forcibly recruited by the terror group to give up their weapons and surrender to Turkish authorities.

Protests in Diyarbakir outside the office of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) started with three mothers who said their children had been forcibly recruited by the terrorists. The Turkish government says the HDP has links to the PKK terrorist organization.

- 'PKK cannot be defender of Kurds' rights'

“Just as everyone has stood up for their children here, I hope everyone will stand up in Europe as well, since the PKK has turned more towards Europe,” Maide T noted.

She said the PKK took away the rights of the Kurdish people.

“Most people in Europe see the PKK as a defender of the rights of Kurds. The PKK cannot be a defender of the rights of Kurds. Now we have to show it to Europe,” she said.

“The PKK is taking the lives and property of the Kurds. They take our children, who are our lives. The PKK does not represent the Kurds.

“An army of murderers can't represent us. I never accept that. I'll do whatever I can to save my child,” she added.

“I will never give up this struggle until my child comes. My struggle will continue until my child comes.”

- ‘Mothers will take their children back’

Aysegul Bicer, another mother in the protest, said: “We will be the voice of Maide as well.”

She underlined that the spread of the protest to Berlin, Germany, Turkey’s eastern provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari and Mus and western Izmir province has been a source of great hope for all the protesting mothers.

“I believe mothers will drill mountains if they want to. Mothers will resist and fight and take their rightful children back. They will erase the name of the PKK from the face of the earth.”

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

*Writing by Merve Berker in Ankara