For years, the PKK has been executing a mysterious and dangerous policy against Kurdish youth. This policy, which includes enforced disappearances and delayed announcements of members’ deaths, has created a crisis of security and uncertainty for Kurdish families and communities. The Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch has repeatedly described this act as an international crime.
The official news website for the PKK/PJAK group has published an image that is a reminder of the sacrifice of Kurdish youth. The news agency stated:
“The HPG Press and Communications Center, commemorating the five guerrillas killed in 2021, announced: ‘To make the lives left behind by our valuable comrades, the representatives of the Apoist military policy, more meaningful, we will follow the path of our martyrs.'”
The Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch says the PKK pursues this policy of enforced disappearance and considers it an international crime.
Unanswered questions from families and human rights organizations
Dozens of human rights organizations and thousands of grieving families have yet to receive answers from the PKK:
- Why has the PKK sacrificed thousands of Kurdish youth in the war with Turkey?
- Why does the PKK announce the deaths of its members years later?
- Where has the PKK buried these individuals?
- Did the PKK truly kill these people?
- If so, why does the PKK announce their deaths so late?
This lack of response has kept families in absolute ignorance and anxiety, with them waiting for their youth for years.
Enforced disappearance: an international crime against human dignity
Enforced disappearance means the abduction of individuals without any explanation, documentation, or trial. Officials provide no information and offer no answers. Families live in absolute ignorance, caught between hope and fear.
This act not only robs individuals of their freedom but also attacks human dignity, truth, and community security. These young people could have built the future of Turkey and the Kurds in Turkey with higher education, but the PKK had them killed.
The achievements of the Apoist military policy: Development or destruction?
The PKK news agency wrote:
“We will follow the path of our martyrs.”
But the question is, what has the PKK achieved so far besides massacres, insecurity, ethnic conflict, the fragmentation of Syria, the occupation of Iraq, and the destruction of Kurdish regions?
Even with Öcalan’s initiation of the PKK disarmament process, this group still kills Kurdish youth and takes pride in its policy. Who has ever delayed the announcement of the deaths of thousands of Kurdish youth, and who can guarantee that these young people were killed in conflict with Turkey?
