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Senior EP member visits Diyarbakır to meet Kurdish mothers holding anti-PKK sit-in

Czech politician Tomas Zdechovsky -- a senior member of the European Parliament -- paid a visit to Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakır province to meet the Kurdish mothers, who have been holding a sit-in protest in front of the opposition HDP's headquarters to condemn child recruitment by bloody-minded PKK terror group.

Anadolu Agency WORLD
Published November 07,2019
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A senior member of the European Parliament visited Thursday the Kurdish mothers holding sit-in in southeastern Turkey to ask the return of their children abducted by the PKK terror group.

Czech politician Tomas Zdechovsky visited families who have been staging a sit-in protest outside provincial office of opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), accused by the Turkish government of having links to the YPG/PKK terror group, and voiced his support.

Ayşegül Biçer, one of the mothers, told Zdechovsky that they started the protest to take their children back from the hands of the terror group.

"We are here to stop the bloodshed of 40 years. We want support from the European countries," Biçer said.

In a response, Zdechovsky said: "We never ever will discuss with someone who is using guns. Never ever. This is why I am here and I want to speak with you about these humanitarian issues."

He added that in every case a peaceful solution should be found.

Süleyman Aydın, protesting along with other families, said his teenage son was abducted four years ago and recalled that the protest has been ongoing for 66 days.

Aydın asked the European Union to not support the YPG/PKK terror group.

"We will never support a terrorist organization and the PKK is on the blacklist," Zdechovsky replied.

"With terrorists we do not have any dialogue. If somebody wants a dialogue, he has to take his gun down," he added.

Aydın said he saw on TV that police officers in Europe seem to protect terror supporters in pro-PKK demonstrations, and added: "If the EU really care about human rights, then where are the human rights when the PKK kidnapped my 15-year-old child?

"This is why I'm here and this is why I want to support you in this time. I want to support the peaceful protest here, in Turkey," Zdechovsky said.

"Europe should stop protecting the PKK," Aydın said, demanding their support.

"I will pray for you and for your children. I hope that sometime I will come and we will celebrate the return of your children," Zdechovsky told families.

Mothers in Diyarbakır province started the sit-in protest on Sept. 3 after a mother, Fevziye Çetinkaya, said her 17-year-old son was forcibly recruited by the YPG/PKK through members of the HDP.

Since then, the number of protesting families has been growing as they demand the return of their children, who, they claim, were deceived or kidnapped by the YPG/PKK terrorists.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.