The PKK terrorist organization has been training teenage children to fight in northern Syria under the guise of "mandatory military service" for years, according to two Turkish experts.

Terrorist groups like the PKK and its offshoots are notorious for filling their ranks with children through bait, force, kidnappings and promises of paying off the debts of poverty-stricken families.

During an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday, the founding director of the Middle East, Eurasia and Asia-Pacific Platform (ODAP), Dr. Ali Semin, along with foreign policy analyst at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), Kutluhan Görücü, highlighted that recruiting children into their ranks is a primary goal for these groups and younger children, in particular, are targeted for being vulnerable to manipulation.

"Terrorist groups reach out to children through various platforms and brainwash them," Semin explained, adding that later, these children are ripped away from their families and trained to be used in whatever way the organization wants."

According to Semin, these children aren’t raised as just "warriors" by the terrorists. The organization needs children for its continuity and specifically uses adolescents between the ages of 13-18.

Semin cited international reports highlighting that the PKK has abducted and used at least 20,000 children in its operations since its foundation. "Kidnapping children up to the mountains is human smuggling and child abuse per international laws," Semin censured.

Using "mandatory military service" as its excuse, the PKK separates children from their families with the promise of giving them work and money in northern Syria, Semin said, adding that the families of these children are later silenced through force and pressure by the PKK and its Syrian branch, the YPG.

Children herded into the group’s camps are brainwashed and used in terrorism across various countries. "Families wanting to free their children from the clutches of the PKK/YPG never see them again," Semin sighed.

He also revealed the terrorist group used women and young girls to gather more men into their network. "A huge number of women terrorists and underage girls have been brought into the organization," he said.

The PKK doesn’t restrict itself to rural areas and populates its ranks with children from cities as well. "As you can see with Diyarbakır mothers, the PKK abducts a significant number of children from not only villages but cities too," he noted, referring to the group of parents that has been demanding the return of their sons and daughters from the PKK at a sit-in protest in front of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) headquarters in Türkiye’s southeastern Diyarbakır province for four years now.

The party is generally accused of acting as the parliamentary front of the terrorist organization and because of this reason, the families have directed their protests and demands to their office.

Since the sit-in protest began, a significant number of suspected terrorists have fled the PKK and returned home, yet, many terrorists lack the courage to leave the group out of fear of severe punishment if caught.

Semin explained the PKK persuaded children into "going up the mountains" through adults who are actively working in their urban branches. "Compared to adults, children are more canalized into the organization," he highlighted.

"Going up the mountain" is a phrase frequently used to describe the act of joining the PKK as it operates a network of hideouts and lairs high in rocky terrains across Türkiye’s southeast.

Semin said children who fail to "fully connect" with the PKK after joining are used in internal executions. "These children, already exploited through savage acts, are further dragged into terrorism, prepared to play active roles in bigger terrorist operations," he noted.

Semin drew attention to the general lack of reactions to "the PKK’s child abuse," which he reiterated was documented by international reports, beyond mere condemnations.

He argued the U.S. and Europe "enabled child abuse" by defining the PKK and its offshoots as "so-called ‘freedom’ movements."

"None of their democratic claims, which they glorify through children’s rights, human rights and many other notions, have any sanction on the PKK. The PKK and its Syrian wing YPG commit child abuse before the entire international community and the U.S. and the West are supporting this abuse," Semin concluded.

Meanwhile, Görücü said the terrorist group was deploying children it kidnapped from Türkiye in other countries. "As you know, mothers whose children were abducted in Türkiye continue protesting. In that regard, security forces have reunited numerous families with their children," he noted.

Since its foundation, the PKK has abused children under the age of 18 and has put them on battlefields, Görücü said. "Under the pretext of educating children, they teach these kids how to hold guns and roll them out into the war zone in Syria," he explained.

Similar to the PKK, the terrorist organization Daesh also feeds on children and uses them in their planned operations, Görücü informed. "These kids are used in every activity within the organization," he said.

The PKK mobilizes children in Türkiye to utilize in "street rallies and clashes," Görücü recalled and added that the organization’s first deed after invading Sinjar in northern Iraq was to enlist child soldiers.

The SETA analyst underlined that the PKK’s child abuse was at its peak in regions it invaded.

Families whose children are enlisted as the PKK’s soldiers in Syria are staging protests, too, but it doesn’t find coverage in global media, Görücü added. "The organization even abducted children from regions with a majority of Arabs in Syria. There were protests against these unjust detentions in Manbij and Deir el-Zour," he said.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group in the U.S. and the European Union alongside Türkiye. Since the 1980s, it has waged a bloody campaign against the country, massacring thousands of security personnel and civilians, including women and children. It has also evolved into a threat to the region's stability as it expanded its activities into northern Syria and Iraq across Türkiye’s borders.

While working to eradicate all terrorist elements both at home and across its borders through pinpoint operations like Euphrates-Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), Spring Peace (2019) and most recently Claw-Sword (2022), Turkish security forces, along with the gendarmerie, lead persuasion efforts to reduce the PKK’s ranks and entirely obliterate its influence in the region.

A total of 124 terrorists laid down their arms and surrendered to Turkish forces in 2022, the recent figures revealed.