Turkey
A mother sits in a tent designed for families outside the HDP main headquarters in Diyarbakir. Photo: Rudaw VT
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Families have continued their sit-ins outside the offices of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Diyarbakir, calling on the party to help them find their children said to be with the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).
The families have set up a giant tent shrouded in the Turkish flag and photographs of their children who, they say, were deceived by the PKK to join their ranks, and they hold the HDP complicit.
The Turkish government has long accused the HDP of assisting and having ties to the PKK, an armed group designated a terrorist organisation by Ankara. The HDP has denied the claims.
108 families are now participating in the sit-in, including those who say their children have been taken hostage by the PKK.
"We have been sitting here for 180 days now. We do not feel daytime or night, no happy time, no enjoyment. The image of my son is before my eyes all the time," said Fakhraddin Akkush, a distraught father whose son went missing five years ago in his hometown of Bitlis, eastern Turkey.
Akkush says they will not leave until they have an answer from the HDP regarding the fate of their children.
The protests began in August of last year when mother Hacire Akar accused the PKK of kidnapping her son. The protests grew in number as many other joined her, accusing the HDP of close ties to the PKK and asking the party to help return their children.
The PKK fights for greater political rights for Kurds in Turkey. The decades-long conflict with the Turkish state has lead to thousands of deaths, including civilians.
Salihie Mert has not heard from her son for five years, after he travelled to Istanbul to join the PKK.
"All we want is a response to our question..to know where he is. All I want is a letter from him," Mert said. "His unclear fate is a death to us."
The continued sit-in has not been in vain, with one family reunited with their missing daughter.
Pelda Ayhan says she made the decision to return after seeing her mother on social media pleading for her return.
"I saw my mother on websites. It really distressed and saddened me," Ayhan said, adding that she could not comment on how she joined, or left, the PKK.
The HDP is under mounting pressure from the state and affected families to help reveal the fate of the missing persons who are said to have joined the group.
The HDP has categorically rejected accusations of involvement, accusing the Turkish government of launching a smear campaign against the pro-Kurdish party.
Imam Tascier, an HDP MP from Diyarbakir lashed out at the sit-in saying they are brought in by the state to demonstrate against something for which the HDP is not responsible.
"We have seen how these families are brought in by the police,” Tascier said. "They are supported by the state and their needs are supplied by them."
He does not deny the families suffer, but argues the only solution to such issues is the resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey.
"Though we know they grieve, we should understand such problems will come to an end only when the Kurdish issue is resolved," the MP added.
Reporting by Mehdi Mutlu
Translation by Zhelwan Z.Wali
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