YPG/PKK terror group keeps recruiting, using children in Syria

By Omer Koparan and Mehmet Burak Karacaoglu

AZAZ, Syria (AA) – After suffering heavy losses amid Turkish military operations in northern Iraq and Syria, the YPG/PKK terror group is forcing minors to serve in combat zones, in a flagrant violation of both the laws of war and human rights agreements.

The terror group declared mobilization in response to the military campaigns of the Turkish Armed Forces in northern Iraq, and it uses its proxies in Syria to recruit children.

Recently, a post on a website linked to the YPG/PKK showed a group of over 10 children reading out a notice.

The terror group's practice of abducting children and pushing them into combat zones is nothing new, as seen in the US State Department’s 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report.

According to the report, the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, forcibly recruited girls as young as 12 from refugee camps located in northwestern Syria.

Moreover, a January 2020 UN human rights office (OHCHR) report said its findings suggest the YPG/PKK is using children as fighters in Syria.

Virginia Gamba, the UN’s point person on ending the use of child fighters, as the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, signed an action plan with the SDF – the label the YPG/PKK uses in Syria – to end and prevent the recruitment and use of minors under 18.

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

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas​​​​​​​