Skip to main content

Kurdish families demand the PKK stop kidnapping minors

About two dozen Kurdish families have come forward since May 19 in protest of the Kurdistan Workers Party’s abduction of their children.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters walk on the way to their new base in northern Iraq May 14, 2013. The first group of Kurdish militants to withdraw from Turkey under a peace process entered northern Iraq on Tuesday, and were greeted by comrades from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in a symbolic step towards ending a three-decades-old insurgency. The 13 men and women, carrying guns and with rucksacks on their backs, arrived in the area of Heror, near Metina mountain on the Turkish-Iraqi border, a Reu
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters walk on the way to their new base in northern Iraq, May 14, 2013. — REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

It all started on April 23, the day Turkey marked its 91st National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. While in the western side of the country children were in a festive mood, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) kidnapped 25 students between the ages of 14 and 16 on the east side of the country, in the Lice district of Diyarbakir.

Sinan Bockum, 15, was one of those kidnapped. His family did a most unexpected thing when they got the news about what happened to their son. Although the PKK has kidnapped more than 330 minors in the last six months, the Bockum family was the first in the region who put up a tent near their home to start a sit-in protest, challenging the PKK and demanding that it return their son. Sinan was returned to the family on May 4. Al-Monitor reported this incident from the beginning in depth

Subscribe for unlimited access

All news, events, memos, reports, and analysis, and access all 10 of our newsletters. Learn more

$14 monthly or $100 annually ($8.33/month)
OR

Continue reading this article for free

All news, events, memos, reports, and analysis, and access all 10 of our newsletters. Learn more.

By signing up, you agree to Al-Monitor’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. Already have an account? Log in