While claiming to support human rights in rhetoric, the West turns a blind eye to the protest of the families in Diyarbakır against the PKK terrorist organization, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday.
Speaking at the mass opening ceremony of multiple facilities in southeastern Diyarbakır province, Erdoğan said: "The Diyarbakır mothers stood firm. Where are the human rights defenders of the West? Why didn't they come to the Diyarbakır mothers even once?"
"Did they visit the Diyarbakır mothers, whose children have been abducted to Qandil? Why? Because they have nothing to do with defending human rights," Erdoğan highlighted.
He added that thanks to the resistance of the families in Diyarbakır, who have continued their sit-in for almost four years now, their children have started to return to them gradually.
The protest started when Hacire Akar turned up at the doorstep of the Peoples' Democratic Party's (HDP) Diyarbakır office one night, demanding to be reunited with her son. Akar’s son Mehmet returned home on Aug. 24, 2019, giving hope to other families. A week later, on Sept. 3, 2019, families inspired by Akar staged a collective sit-in protest.
Demonstrations have since spread to other provinces, including Van, Muş, Şırnak and Hakkari.
Families have not given up their posts despite difficult conditions, at times being threatened or ridiculed by the HDP officials and those with links to the PKK terrorist organization. The protests continued despite the coronavirus pandemic, with the families taking the necessary precautions.
A significant number of suspected terrorists have begun to flee the PKK and surrender, but many terrorists lack the courage to leave the group out of fear of severe punishment if caught.
The president was going to visit Diyarbakır last week but the trip was canceled following a coal mine blast in the northern Bartın province that killed at least 41 people and led the country into mourning.
Erdoğan also spoke on the many investments that were made in Diyarbakır during the term of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
“We are working to make our country an island of peace. Terrorist organizations and the imperialist tyrants holding their strings will not be able to prevent us from doing this.”
“Diyarbakır’s color is not terrorism,” he added. "AK Party means work, service. Does the HDP have such services? They have no other job or profession other than terrorism."
"Diyarbakır is taking fast steps towards becoming the most important industrial and production center of our country once again," Erdoğan said, highlighting that TL 57 billion was invested into Diyarbakır.
In the past decade, Türkiye has made significant progress in terms of the rights granted to Kurds, despite many decades of negligence, including the establishment of a Kurdish TV channel, the introduction of Kurdish lessons in universities and other development projects.
The community had fallen victim to a brutal campaign of terror by the PKK and the state's harsh measures to contain it.
The PKK positioned militants in heavily populated urban areas in the southeast while using suicide attacks against both civilian and public targets.
Several HDP deputies and municipalities held by the HDP are accused of collaborating with PKK militants and providing logistical support and equipment during that time in the terrorist group's violent campaign.
According to Interior Ministry investigations, municipalities run by the HDP helped terrorists in various towns and cities dig trenches and erect barricades. Mainly deployed in the southeastern Diyarbakır, Şırnak and Mardin provinces, this strategy led to the destruction of entire neighborhoods in clashes, with the most damage inflicted on Şırnak's city center and in the districts of Sur, Cizre and Nusaybin.
However, the strategy failed following successful counterterrorism operations and the lack of cooperation from the people in the region. The cities suffered significant damage during the operations. Since then, the government has invested huge amounts of money to restore infrastructure and public services in the region.
Erdoğan also said that Diyarbakır being peaceful is not enough and that Iraq and Syria must also be peaceful.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu for his part similarly during the opening said in Diyarbakır that “Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we will bring peace to Erbil, Baghdad and Damascus just as we did in Diyarbakır, Şırnak and Hakkari.”
