Another family on Thursday joined an ongoing protest by Kurdish families in southeastern Turkey against child-recruitment by the PKK terrorist organization.
The protest started in September in Diyarbakır province when a mother, Fevziye Çetinkaya, said her underage son had been forcibly recruited by the PKK terrorists with the help of members of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) which has been accused of having links to the bloody-minded terrorist group.
Since then, the number of protesting families has been growing, as they demand the return of their children, who, they say, were deceived or kidnapped by PKK terrorists.
Mehmet Aytekin came from eastern Elazığ province in the hope to find his brother Hüseyin Aytekin, who was kidnapped four years ago.
"I don't think he joined the PKK terror group with his own free will. We spoke four months after he left. He didn't say where he was, just said he was alright. After that, we never met again," Mehmet Aytekin told Anadolu Agency.
Mehmet Aytekin joined the protest at its 80th day.
He said: "So many young people are dying in the mountains and in Syria for nothing. Not only my brother, but lots of young people are in this situation. I want my brother back."
Fatma Bingöl is a mother who joined the protest for her son, Tuncay Bingöl, who was kidnapped by the PKK terrorists five years ago when he was 14 years old.
"We've been here for 80 days. We are anxiously waiting for our children. What happened to our children? We don't know if they're alive or dead," Fatma Bingöl said.
"I call on all the other parents; support us and raise voice for us. Everybody must defend their own rights. They should also come here to fight and ask for their own children. They should not be afraid of anything," she added.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.
