PKK ‘abductions’ heat up Kurdish bid debate

A group of families make a press statement in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır for their children kidnapped by the PKK on May 27. AA photo

Tension grows between the AKP and the opposition over the PM’s ‘orders’ to bring back children who have reportedly been kidnapped by the PKK

Parliament’s pro-Kurdish bloc has moved to work for the release of children who joined the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) following threats of an operation by the prime minister, increasing the pressure on Turkey’s slow-moving peace process.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) leader Selahattin Demirtaş held a meeting yesterday with the families of children who were “abducted” by the PKK, eight days after the families began a sit-in protest in front of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality. The number of families had risen to 16 as of May 28.

“Demirtaş told us he would speak with Kandil [the mountain range in northern Iraq where the PKK has its military headquarters],” said Mahfuze Eren, in a statement on behalf of the missing children’s mothers following their meeting with the BDP co-chair.

In Ankara, speaking at a press conference at the Parliament, Kemal Aktaş, a lawmaker for the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), the BDP’s sister party, said they had been closely involved in looking for a resolution to the issue.

“At the moment, BDP leader Selahattin Demirtaş is holding talks with the families; the families have not been abandoned,” Aktaş said.

In response to repeated questions on the issue, Demirtaş said the children went to the mountains of their own will. “Going to the mountains,” is a phrase used in Turkey to refer to those who join the PKK’s armed fight in mountainous areas.

Demirtaş’s action comes amid growing...

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