Increase in PKK recruits since peace process started: Governor

SİİRT - Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The number of people joining the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has increased in the past six months since the peace process began, according to Siirt Gov. Ahmet Aydın.

Aydın, who met members of the press during a recent visit to the southeastern province by European Union Minister Egemen Bağış, told reporters that there had been “an increase in the number of people joining the organization.” 

Aydın said that while the official numbers were around 35-40 new recruits, the unofficial numbers round up to 100 new members over the last six months. 

“There are even those who say it’s around 2,000, or 2,500. Obviously you can’t give a number, but there has been an increase from the last year,” Aydın said, adding that the organization sometimes convinced parents to hand over their children, claiming they would let them go after a few days, only to retain them in the organization. 

“If the other side is genuine, and if peace is really seriously being considered, I wonder why they still admit children,” Aydın told reporters.