“Children Aren’t Being Taken To The Mountains; They Go There”

bianet talked with Human Rights Foundation (İHD) Chairman Öztürk Türkdoğan about the recent “child guerrillas” debate sparked by the protest of around 80 families in Diyarbakır whose children have joined the PKK. 

Türkdoğan stated that PKK recruits people on a voluntary basis and has not forced anybody to go up the mountains so far, and added that, “In our examinations in guerrilla territory as İHD we noticed that children to not take part in the armed region, but remain in the background. The debate focuses on only a small portion of the whole picture, whereas we need to concentrate on why children are insistently going to the mountains.”  

“Children Meet Guns”

Türkdoğan emphasized that children in the region meet guns at a very early age, and remarked:

“The children in the region meet guns one way or another. They either meet rangers’ guns, or guerillas’ guns, or the guns of soldiers, police, gendarmerie, and special teams. They’re constantly exposed to guns around them. This problem will persist so long as the region is not disarmed, and military or paramilitary groups in civilian residential areas disbanded.”

Why do the children go to the mountains?

“There isn’t any data that indicates the PKK kidnaps children in the scope of our field studies so far. PKK has so far ensured involvement always on a volunteer basis. Therefore, we have never seen them resort to forcibly procuring members.

“But why do children join the PKK? They cannot see an environment in Turkey suited to them and to their dreams. There isn’t an environment of peace. As a result, we very clearly observe the wish to join the PKK especially in young people aged 16-17. 

“There is a fact that some children insistently join the PKK and absolutely do not want to go back. And this is related to the reality of children in Turkey. It’s wrong to evaluate, pretending nothing happens to children in Turkey, when the treatment children in Turkey are exposed to is out in the open. 

“The children do not want to go back because they are afraid that bad things will happen to them. We have been seeing it for years. Children are thrown into prison, raped, killed...  

“The children are outside the conflict zone”

“It’s important to take PKK’s declaration into consideration that they do not arm those under 18, do not send these kids to armed regions, keeping them in the rear and sending back whoever wants to go back. 

“In the last couple of years, a lot of our friends toured the guerrilla zones during the resolution process. In these past two years we have not encountered child guerillas. There might be guerrilla fighters under 18 in political instruction camps outside Turkey, but they are already outside the conflict zone.

“However, I find it odd that a large portion of the media and various political parties exploit this subject. 

“The problem is not only the children who go to the mountains. There’s a problem of peace in this country. They concern themselves with a very small frame in the photograph; this approach is not right.  

“They did not listen to the Wise Men”

“I think that we have been experiencing problems from the very beginning due to AKP’s wanting to develop the process under their own control. AKP wants the process to continue always under their control, but they forget one of the sides. 

“This problem has two sides. One is the government and the other, the Kurdish political movement. The problem can be resolved through mutual negotiation. 

“But evidently there are still problems in transitioning to the negotiation stage. They will have to take a step towards negotiations, but the government is complicating this step for its own political gain. But these steps will be taken sooner or later because there is no other option.

“Wise men’s committees toured Turkey for 2 months and prepared extensive reports. But these reports are not consulted in the least. I think that there will be no problem left to solve if they do what the reports prescribe.” (EKN/PU/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.