The PKK, which has been reported by independent international observation agencies, frequently use children in clashes in both Turkey and Syria, has been continuing recruiting children for many years.
The organization, which has been bringing nothing but conflict, blood, and tears to the Kurds for nearly 40 years, continues to separate children from their families to use in fights, and abuse them, which are reported by independent observation agencies.
The organization, which carried out its first armed attack in 1984 in Eruh district of Siirt, a southeastern province of Turkey, killed thousands of innocent people so far.
PKK and its extension structures have been merged under the name of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) since 2005.
The KCK continued its activities in Turkey under the name of PKK, PYD (Democratic Unity Party) in Syria and its armed wing YPG (People's Defense Forces), PCDK in Iraq (Kurdistan Democratic solution party) and PJAK in Iran (Kurdistan Free Life Party).
PKK use children in armed clashes
The PKK was born on a Marxist-Leninist ideological basis. In time, it became a problematic logic that declared all groups other than itself as enemies.
Parallel to this compelling character, the PKK frequently resorted to inter-organization executions and continued to exert pressure on groups opposing it.
In addition to its repressive and compelling character, the PKK massacred civilians, applied to acts such as ethnic slaughter and forced migration, used children in armed conflicts.
PKK's use of children in armed conflicts first entered the agenda of the international community in 2010. A report published in a newspaper called Berlingske Tidende, published in Denmark, was effective in this.
The report showed that there were around 3,000 children in PKK training camps and even children aged 8-9 were trained in weapons and explosives.
These actions of the PKK, which used children in armed conflicts, also was on the agenda of the United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF]. UNICEF, in its June 1, 2010 release, announced deep concern over the PKK's recruiting children and use them forcibly in armed fights.
PKK systematically uses children since 1994
The PKK, which has been systematically used child since 1994, is thought to have recruited thousands of children from Turkey. It is known that children aged 15-18 are already a big part of PKK staff and that this number is predominantly less than 15 years old.
A 2012 study found that 33.41 percent of the 362 members killed between 2001 and 2011 were 16-18 years old and 9.25 percent were under 15 years old.
According to the report, the youngest participant in the organization is 9-year-old, while 2012's data stated that the proportion of children to the organization was 36 percent.
It is also known that the PKK, which uses children for various purposes and without the need to hide this situation, set up an armed group of children.
Moms made long-lasting sit-in
Despite the rising reactions in this regard, the PKK continues to use children in clashes by separating children from their families and forcibly arming them.
One of the reactions to this was the sit-in act of mothers in Diyarbakır, who came from various regions of Turkey in May 2014. Expressing their reaction to the PKK, mothers demanded that their children, aged 14-15, be released and freed by the organization.
Another news that was reported in the press at the same time was the kidnapping of two 15-year-old students by the PKK from Industrial Vocational High School in Diyarbakır.
The families of the kidnapped-children were flocked to the HDP provincial building after the incident. Later, a representative on behalf of families blocking the road in front of the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality said 76 families in various cities of Turkey came to Diyarbakır to protest PKK for recruiting [kidnapping] their children.
The protest of the families was tried to be dispersed by the Metropolitan Municipality of Diyarbakır, which was under the management of the HDP, from time to time.
However, despite the pressure of the PKK and the HDP, the families continued their protests and the children of some families were sent back by the organization. Despite this, the PKK's kidnappings continued. It was noted that the kidnapped children were made up of a significant proportion of girls.
On June 10, 2015, Şanlıurfa Governor Izzettin Küçük announced, "3,000 children were kidnapped in the region in the last 6 months and 400 children were missing in the town of Suruc".
Consent obtained through force and cheating is not valid
The advocates of organization, in the process PKK continues to kidnap children, said that the children had the will to participate in the organization, then the president of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtaş stated that "children at their own will and decisions went to the mountain".
However, the child who was kidnapped to join the organization did not have the will to act under pressure, because of the abuse of his/her temperament and feelings.
The fact that the PKK/PYD/YPG accepts the child who demands to join the organization for any reason does not change the nature that it commits a war crime.
The consent and will of a person mean that the person does not has any of the features such as the person is in child-age, has mental illness or weakness and drunkenness. The international community does not accept consent obtained through force and cheating.
The lack of a clear way of leaving the organization and the fact that people who try to escape are often tortured or killed suggest that the child's consent in this direction is not valid.
PKK uses children in armed clashes in Syria
The PKK is currently using children widely in armed conflicts, especially in Syria. As a matter of fact, this was reflected in the reports of the Human Rights Watch.
PKK/PYD/YPG actively uses children under 18 in reconnaissance activities, as guards, and in armed conflicts, the report said.
It is possible to see children frequently under the age of 15 who are forced to fight at the fronts of PKK/PYD/YPG.
"Kurd Watch", another independent initiative following human rights violations in the Kurdish population in Syria, reports that the PKK/ PYD/YPG has kidnapped Kurdish children and armed them without the consent of their families.
Force-armed training activities are systematically implemented by PYD/YPG, the PKK's armed wing in Syria, especially in the areas they control.
Every family living in the areas under the control of the PKK/YPG has been forced to give a member to the armed organization. Children and young people are forcibly armed for 6 months to be used in clashes. This activity is mostly carried out by random abductions, detentions at road breakpoints and house raids.
PKK / PYD supported by imperial powers
The PKK, supported by the US and European imperialist forces as military and logistics, has increased the number of children forced into armed camps in the region.
While the children of the Muslim Kurdish people are fighting for a Marxist-Leninist ideology, the global imperialist powers are using PKK/YPG as territorial forces in the region.
PKK causes moral and cultural erosion
Another social damage caused by the PKK is to recruits the Kurdish girls and take them to the mountains.
The PKK, which has also hit the Kurdish understanding of honor, has made great efforts to destroy its faith and cultural values.
The PKK undertook the work of the subversion of the Muslim Kurdish People, targeted the women's chastity directly, which could not be done in the early periods of the Republic, and which was left incomplete by the founding regime.
After the first hit of the women-men together mountain life, the PKK has dynamited the essence of the Muslim Kurdish with the centers and activities it opened with municipal facilities.
As a result of the intense disclosure of the PKK, women's groups appeared who started to say, "we are not the honor of anyone, our honor is our freedom."
In a sense, the PKK, acting as an element of cultural imperialism, has caused moral and cultural erosion to be experienced with its activities in Kurdistan. (ILKHA)