Families' sit-in against PKK continues in SE Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY - DECEMBER 16: Dozens of families have been staging a sit-in protest against the PKK terror group in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir outside the provincial office of a Turkish opposition party long accused by the government of having links to the PKK. The protest started on Sept. 3 in Diyarbakir after a mother, Fevziye Cetinkaya, said her 17-year-old son had been forcibly recruited by the PKK through members of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). Since then, the number of families in front of the building is growing as families demand the return of their children, who, they claim, were deceived or kidnapped by PKK terrorists. Mehmet Lacin said his daughter had been kidnapped eight years ago. Lacin said her daughter Gamze had been kidnapped when she was a senior at the high school. The father vowed to continue the sit-in protest in front of the HDP’s office until he gets her daughter back. "I want my daughter. I know who kidnapped her. I'm not leaving here without my daughter. If she is dead, I want her dead body," he told Anadolu Agency on Monday. Lacin traveled to Diyarbakir from Izmir, an Aegean province, to join the other families in their protest. "You live under the Turkish flag. Everyone has their citizenship rights in Turkey. I want them to respect the Turkish flag [...] I cannot stand any longer, I cannot sleep as I cannot forget. My daughter had dreams, her youth is gone, let her come back to the home." 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.(Footage by Aziz Aslan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)