As Türkiye criticizes the United States over a report accusing Ankara of recruitment of child soldiers, Washington conveniently turns a blind eye to the kidnapping of children by its so-called ally, the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing YPG. The group, which enjoys strong U.S. support in Syria under the pretext of fighting against Daesh, continues its criminal activity by kidnapping innocent children to recruit them as "child fighters" after brainwashing and isolating them from their families.
Despite the U.N. special representative's meeting with PKK terrorist Ferhat Abdi Şahin, code-named "Mazloum Kobani," one of the PKK/YPG ringleaders who signed an "action plan" in June 2019 at the U.N. office in Geneva to release "child fighters within the organization," it continues this criminal practice by taking away children from their families. The terrorist group usually kidnaps schoolchildren in the areas it has occupied in Syria, particularly along school routes, and then forcibly recruits them into its illegal armed force. The PKK/YPG, which takes kidnapped and detained children to camps for armed training, also forbids them from ever communicating with their families again. Children forced to take part in armed training are used in the organization's terrorist activities. Images and news about "child fighters" also appeared on several of its propaganda social media sites.
According to the Kurdish opposition group Independent Kurdish Order, PKK/YPG terrorists kidnapped 18 more children between the ages of 14 and 17, including six from Hassakeh province, seven from Qamishli district and five from Aleppo province, and took them to so-called training camps in July of this year.
Sabah Anter, whose daughter was kidnapped by terrorist members two years ago in the PKK/YPG-controlled Qamishli district of northeastern Syria, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Aug. 3: "She was a school-going young girl when she was kidnapped."
"I went to the security forces and U.N. offices in the region to protest her kidnapping. There is no door left that I haven't knocked on for justice," Anter said, adding, "but I haven't been able to find my daughter."
"My daughter was so young. She was kidnapped by the terror organization when she was just 16 years old. She wanted to be a teacher,” she said.
Photographs taken in June last year of tombstones in the Ain-al Arab district, where the PKK/YPG victims of kidnapped "child fighters" are buried, clearly state their ages between 14 and 17 in Arabic and Kurdish languages. Tombstones in the cemetery in the PKK/YPG-occupied Ain-al Arab district show that the terrorist group is dragging children into violence following their kidnapping and separating them from their families. The U.S., which talks about democracy and human rights, is increasing its cooperation with the PKK/YPG in Syria, which has a bad track record for terrorist crimes. The U.S. provides financial and political support to the terrorist organization, which separates hundreds of children from their families and equips them with light and heavy weapons to take part in terrorist activities.
Virginia Gamba, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' special representative on Children in Armed Conflicts, signed the action plan prepared "for the release of child fighters within the organization" on June 29, 2019, but without the knowledge of the member states. Ankara later issued a protest note to the U.N. on the matter.
The U.N. Human Rights Council revealed in a report released on Jan. 16, 2020, that PKK/YPG terrorists are using children as "fighters" in Syria. The fact that the terrorist group forces children to fight was also mentioned in the "2020 Human Trafficking Report" released by the U.S. State Department on June 26, 2020. The PKK/YPG continued to forcibly recruit and use even 12-year-old boys and girls from asylum camps in northwestern Syria, the report said.
The U.N. prepared the "Children in Annual Armed Conflicts" report for the period of January-December 2022, the PKK terrorist organization and its Syrian extension YPG. It was stated in the document that more than 1,200 children had been used as "soldiers" in 2022. According to the report, the PKK/YPG has recruited 637 children, including 633 children to their armed staff.
Guterres, whose views were included in the report, expressed how "extremely concerned” he feels about the use of children as "soldiers" by the PKK/YPG. "I invite them to stop using children as soldiers and for different purposes and release all the children in their ranks,” the report said, quoting the U.N. chief.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the U.S. and the EU, has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Ankara strongly slammed an update in the 2023 U.S. "Trafficking in Persons Report" on Saturday that listed Türkiye as a country that uses child soldiers. "It is regrettable that Türkiye’s significant efforts to prevent human trafficking have been disregarded by placing it in the list of child soldier recruiting states under the ‘Child Soldiers Prevention Act’ through an update of the 2023 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"Türkiye is making every effort to prevent the crime of human trafficking, punish offenders and protect victims of the crime while maintaining its activities in an uninterrupted manner towards further strengthening bilateral, regional and international cooperation to this end," it said.
Human rights are once again being politicized in the report, it said. "We categorically reject all allegations of children recruitment attributed to our country, which is party to all international documents on the protection of children's rights including those adopted within the framework of the United Nations and meticulously implements them," it said.
"Before attempting such defamation against Türkiye, it would be anticipated that the U.S., which provides military and financial support to the PKK/YPG terrorist organization, which forcibly recruits children for terrorist activities in Syria and Iraq, face its own reality. This case also raises serious questions about the objectivity of the information sources on which the U.S. authorities base their decisions. This slander, which does not bode well with the spirit of alliance, will be duly responded to," it said.
Numerous serious crimes committed by the so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces" under the control of the terrorist organization PKK/YPG, such as forcibly recruiting children, abduction, deprivation of liberty and military use of schools in Syria, were recently documented in the report disseminated by the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria on Sept. 12, the ministry noted.
"Moreover, the most recent example of this terrorist organization's repressive practices and crime has been witnessed in Deir el-Zour," the Foreign Ministry said.
Likewise, the U.S. State Department's "2022 International Religious Freedom Report on Iraq," specifically referring to the Yazidi community in Sinjar, explicitly states that the PKK forcibly recruits hundreds of Yazidi children and abducts them for ideological indoctrination purposes.
"On this occasion, we would like to remind you that scrutinizing oppressive practices and serious crimes of the separatist terrorist organization is among the fundamental responsibilities of the U.S.," the ministry reiterated.
"As a party committed to relevant regional and international conventions, Türkiye will resolutely perpetuate its efforts hitherto aimed at preventing the crime of human trafficking," it said.
