Erdogan: Western human rights defenders ignore PKK terror victims

The Turkish president slammed the failure of Western human rights defenders to do anything to help mothers protesting and seeking the return of their children, who they say were kidnapped by the terrorist group PKK.

"Where are these Western human rights defenders? Did they ever come and visit the Diyarbakir mothers? They have nothing to do with human rights advocacy," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech on Sunday in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Since September 3, 2019, families whose children were allegedly abducted or forcibly recruited by the PKK have camped outside the Diyarbakir offices of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

The Turkish government says the party has links with the terror group, and is currently facing a closure case in the nation’s highest court.

Demonstrations have since spread to other provinces, including Van, Mus, Sirnak, and Hakkari.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

Erdogan has frequently decried Western countries’ failure to show solidarity in the face of PKK terrorist attacks, including allowing PKK terrorists to live and hold protests on European soil, or the US supporting the PKK’s Syrian offshoot YPG.