Diyarbakır mothers' sit-in protests and child soldiers of the PKK

The protests have immediately spread from Diyarbakır to Van, Muş, Şırnak, Hakkari, Izmir, and Berlin. It has been 1057 days since then and while 303 families have joined in the sit-in protest so far, 37 mothers have reunited with their children. For many years, child soldiers have been forcibly recruited by the PKK terrorist organization. The sit-in protests began when Hacire Akar staged a protest outside of the Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) Diyarbakır office on September 3, 2019. The PKK prefers recruiting young children, as they are more easily indoctrinated and have the potential to serve longer. The recent report of the United Nations (UN) titled 'UN's Children and Armed Conflict' records that the PKK recruited 221 child soldiers in Syria in 2021. In addition, The UN's report on 'Children and Armed Conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic,' released May 18, claims that 417 children were used by the YPG/PKK between July 2018 and June 2020. Furthermore, there are much more undetected child soldiers who are not included in international reports. Finally, there is the narrative of Eyüp Baran. He met the PKK when he was nine years old. On 14 February 2011, the PKK and its sympathizers asked the children in the village not to go to school and to join the protests in the name of anniversary of Abdullah Ocalan's -- the PKK terrorist head -- capture. However, Eyüp was sent to school by his father unlike the terrorist organization's demand. In the same day, PKK militants gave Eyüp a bomb to explode and he losted his left hand. After having a longtime treatment, Eyup was disappeared while playing game in the courtyard of his house and his family has never heard from again. In the interview with Eyüp's father, I asked him why the PKK kidnapped a child with a crippled hand, because it was impossible for him to hold a gun with that hand. Also what could a child with a crippled hand do in the PKK camps? The father's answer was very clear: 'They kidnapped him, for sure, to use him as a suicide bomber.' WHY DO SIT-IN PROTESTS OF DIYARBAKIR MOTHERS MATTER? This is the first time that HDP, which having links to the PKK, and PKK are facing such a comprehensive and also a civil challenge. The strong attitude of mothers emerged as the important factor as the protests have put more pressure on both the PKK and the HDP than expected and put them in an uneasy position. Despite the PKK's threats and HDP's insults against families who continue their child watch, the strong will of the mothers and their resistance to all threats are among the most effective factors in the development of the process. Although most of these families belong to low-income group and are exposed to many pressure, they do not step back. Guzide Demir's mother describes the pressure on them as follows: 'They put pressure on my husband at work because I participated in the sit-in protest, they paid his salary 1,000 TL less. They told him whether to accept less salary or quit the job.' The role of the HDP in the protests, on the other hand, is crucial so that the reactions of the families increased in the face of the party's weak reaction towards them during their watch. Moreover, the HDP's reaction against Diyarbakir mothers was blaming them as being traitors. HDP was chosen as the address of the protests since the party plays a key role as a way station for the children's being taken to the mountains as well as it provides financial support to keep their families under its influence. Mothers of Diyarbakır are also angry at the HDP municipalities that they openly serve the PKK terrorist organization. For all these reasons, mothers of Diyarbakir continue their sit-in protest in front of the HDP and they will continue to hold HDP accountable until they meet their children. While the mothers are on watch, the children's stories are worth to be told that we learn in the field research[4]. These stories will also help people understand better the mothers of Diyarbakır and see the true face of the PKK's child soldiers recruitment. The first of three narratives to be told is about Rojhat Ciftci. Rojhat was kidnapped six years ago in Hakkari when he was fifteen. He contacted with his family twice and was caught by the PKK militants while trying to escape from the camp. Later, the PKK pulled Rojhat's nails off in order to prevent any further attempt of escape. Rojhat's mother and brother searched for him in the PKK camps, including Kandil. During one of these visits, Rojhat's brother quarreled with the PKK militants as they neither showed nor gave Rojhat to his family. Shortly after Rojhat's family returned to their village, the militants raided the village at midnight and killed Rojhat's older brother in the barn of the house. Hamza Adıyaman was only nine years old when he was kidnapped by the PKK. No one would believe that a nine year-old boy joined a terrorist organization willingly. Hamza lived in the village of Kırıkdağ in Hakkari and was kidnapped in front of his school. When his family realized that their child was missing, they went to the school for searching him and saw a black car that they believe their son with tied hands was in. Later, the PKK and HDP told the family that Hamza 'died by falling into the Zap river' however Hamza's parents believed this was a lie. They sought help from the HDP twice and got the answer that 'the child is not here, he is not in the PKK as well.' However, the family got a photograph of Hamza clad in PKK clothes and holding a gun in the PKK's child soldiers camp. Hamza's family did not lose their hope and visited the PKK camps 20 times to get Hamza back. During one of these visits, Hamza's father saw his son in a car in Hakurk and called out to him but Hamza could not answer. The PKK immediately took the car from there. Hamza's father said that 'there were eight other children in that vehicle.' The return of the children after having seen their mothers' call on the media has been a motivational factor for the families of others. The mothers of Diyarbakır strongly believe that one day all the children will be freed from the PKK. *** This article has been penned by Abdullah Erboğa for Türkiye's state-run news agency...