Families stage sit-in outside HDP office in SE Turkey

ANKARA

Four families on Sept. 3 staged a sit-in protest outside the provincial office of a Turkish opposition political party accused by the government of having links to the PKK terror group.         

Fevziye Çetinkaya claimed her 17-year-old son had joined the ranks of the terror group through members of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır.         

She said she approached the police on Monday along with her husband Sahap Çetinkaya and filed a complaint.         

"All I want from them [HDP members] is that my child be brought back to me," she said.         

"They either hid my child here or took him somewhere else... I will not leave until my child is back," she added.         

The father accused HDP members of encouraging their children to join the PKK.       

"They send children of poor people [to PKK]... I want my son back, nothing else. We raised these children under hard conditions and sent them to schools," he said.         

Later in the day, three other mothers - who claim their children were kidnapped by the PKK affiliates- joined in forces with Çetinkaya, and the number of protesting mothers climbed to four.         

In addition, representatives of some NGOs paid a visit to the protesting mothers.         

Last month, another mother Hacire Akar staged a similar protest near the party's office. Her son returned home a few days later giving hope to a number of mothers who suffer the same circumstances.         

PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.