The outlawed PKK’s Syrian offshoot Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been forcibly recruiting children similar to the PKK, which has been systematically using children in armed conflicts since 1994. It is not possible to learn the exact number of children recruited by the group. However, after the death of Latife Kaya in 2016, who was notorious for recruiting girls traveling alone around the checkpoints in Qamishli region by either convincing them or forcibly bringing them to the PYD’s training camps, it was revealed that Kaya and her friends recruited more than 500 girls through this way. Meanwhile, it has been observed that the situation caused by the group’s recruitment policy particularly in the regions they capture is even graver.

The group’s recruitment of children is known from a variety of sources including the victim testimonials covered by the media, videos of the group militants uploaded on YouTube, U.S. CENTCOM’s tweets informing that the PYD and its child soldiers were ready for war, and fashion magazine Marie Claire’s article titled “These Remarkable Women Are Fighting ISIS. It’s Time You Know Who They Are.” Some of these publications represent the children fighting in the deployments of the PYD as the subjects of a liberation war when child recruitment is in fact a serious war crime that cannot be justified with any excuse.

A number of verdicts issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was established with the Rome Statute, led to the conviction of the leaders of two terror organizations on the grounds of forcibly conscripting child soldiers. An arrest warrant was issued for Bosco Ntaganda while the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) leader Thomas Lubanga Dylio was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Furthermore, the regulations ban the involvement of children in any act linked to terror organizations along with the deployment of children in armed conflicts, which entails the risk of death or injury.

The 2007 Paris Principles, which is the most comprehensive regulation on the subject, defines “a child associated with an armed force or armed group” as any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes.

In the framework of the ban, there is no difference between the voluntary and involuntary recruitment of children in an armed group. In both cases, the will of children cannot be regarded as consent in legal terms. The protection of the child requires annulling the child’s will to his/her own detriment. Also, the consent given to an unlawful activity is already invalid.

Aside from the legal aspect of the subject, assuming the voluntary participation of children into an armed group implies that they can also voluntarily depart the group, which is hardly the case for terror groups. In an interview published in the website of Kurd Watch, Nurman Ibrahim Khalifa, who was abducted and conscripted by the PYD in 2014 as he was 13 years old, stated that a great number of children kept at the Iraqi Kurdistan camps were severely punished due to their attempts to escape, adding that a woman who was recruited as a child was killed before the eyes of people and her body was thrown into a lake after she was caught in her eighth attempt to escape when she was 18.

A great number of children kept at the Iraqi Kurdistan camps were severely punished due to their attempts to escape, adding that a woman who was recruited as a child was killed before the eyes of people

In 2013, when the organization’s child recruitment stirred reaction from the international public, the PYD signed the “Deed of Commitment for the Protection of Children from the Effects of Armed Conflict” in Qandil with an NGO named Geneva Call, guaranteeing that they would not conscript child soldiers under the age of 18. However, it was unraveled that the organization still continued using children after signing this contract except from a small-scale demobilization following the signing, and broke into houses and abducted children by clashing with their families when they needed more militants. Although the organization ran propaganda to the international public that this situation was an exception, the statements of the victims, the propaganda and actions of the group, and the fact that the group has members in charge of recruiting and training children demonstrate that using children in armed conflicts is a systematic practice for the organization.

As the recruitment cases are examined, it is seen that the organization increases its forcible recruitment activities when they have growing need for militants and goes beyond the limits of their self-proclaimed commitments during such times. For instance, the organization ruled that they would recruit people aged between 18 and 30 in Jazira, but in their practices in Manbij during 2016, a conscription was ruled for persons aged between 16 and 35. Also, in their actions in Afrin shaped through Turkey’s operation in the region, the group increased its forcible recruitment of children out of panic.

A Syrian man who took refuge in Turkey said that after the capture of Raqqa by the PYD, the group forcibly recruited girls from houses with no men, demanded $20.000 from the families not allowing that, and they silently had to watch their daughter taken from them

At this point, the accounts of the children who escaped from the group and the people who left their hometowns are of utmost significance as they portray first-hand experiences and testimonials. In an interview he gave to the press, a Syrian man who took refuge in Turkey said that after the capture of Raqqa by the PYD, the group forcibly recruited girls from houses with no men, demanded $20.000 from the families not allowing that, and they silently had to watch their daughter taken from them since they were unable to pay the money demanded. The Syrian refugee also relayed that his 65-year-old uncle who tried to prevent the abduction of his two daughters was wounded by the group militants with a gun stroke. Upon this, the two families met in the midnight of the same day and took refuge in Turkey.

In another news report published on February 11, 2018, a boy aged around 12-14 stated that the PYD’s armed wing People’s Protection Units (YPG) forcibly gave military training to a group of children including him, and he fled after 12 days, adding that everyone he saw in the camp was forcibly recruited. Another boy around the same age also said that the YPG militants raided into their house to take him. His father fought the militants but could not stop them. According to the account of another boy, he was abducted and brought to a conflict zone by the group militants when he refused to join them.

Besides, the propaganda videos uploaded on the organization’s YouTube channels, such as YPG Press Office, feature a great deal of footage displaying child warriors. These videos try to create the impression that the children joined the PYD with motivations like fighting against Daesh, the liberation of the Kurdish people and freedom of women. In doing so, the organization strives to whitewash its policy based on systematic child rights abuse by making use of generally-accepted notions. The Western supporters of this policy also release material contributing to the group propaganda. In a video titled “Her War: Women vs. ISIS,” which was uploaded on RT America’s YouTube channel, a 16-year-old girl expresses that her participation in the group’s armed units is an honor to her family, adding that she does not go to school since women’s liberation is more important than going to school.

The organization also has members responsible for conscripting and training children. Beritan Sela, who is featured in the videos titled “Women Against Daesh” on the YouTube channel of BBC News, states that they are training the youth aged between 17 and 18. The videos shared on RT America’s YouTube channel also features a member of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), whose code name is Tolheldan, while engaging in the training of girls in the Sehit Berivan training camp. Some militants also endeavor to gather children by going from house to house. In another incident reported by the NSO’s website, a man named Natheer Mostafa was arrested by the YPG as he tried to protect his children from the organization. NSO also reported that a YPG member called Qaraso used to visit Mostafa’s house when Natheer Mostafa and his wife were outside and tried to convince their daughters to join the YPJ, the female equivalent of the YPG.

All the sources and data on the subject indicate that the PYD, which endeavors to idealize its armed conflict in the guise of fighting a liberation war, systematically engages in child recruitment, which is mainly due to the obstacles the organization faces in mobilizing militants while proving that the PYD’s ideology does not address the masses in the region. The organization’s discourse is purportedly based on generally-accepted values, but this does not mean that they embrace these values as they claim to do and does not render the conflicts involving children ethical. Aside from the PYD, states and media outlets giving overt or covert support to child recruitment are also responsible for the risks children will undergo in conflicts and the challenges they will encounter in their education and rehabilitation processes following the conflicts.

Evidence of the terrorist YPG/PKK using young children uncovered in the Turkish-led operation in Syria’s Afrin region confirms what many international rights watchdogs already reported: the terrorist recruitment of minors.

The memory cards of cameras seized during the ongoing Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin region, launched on Jan. 20 against YPG/PKK-Daesh terrorists, show children — age 13-17 — bearing arms, training with weapons, and living in poor conditions in the mountains.

In a December 2016 report Iraq: Armed Groups Using Child Soldiers, Human Rights Watch documented 29 cases in northern Iraq of children recruited by armed groups affiliated to the terrorist PKK.

According to the report, children under age 15 took part in fighting, staffed checkpoints, and cleaned and prepared weapons.

The same PKK activity was also documented in a November 2013 United Nations report called Children and Armed Conflict.

The report said Kurdish armed groups recruited boys and girls age 14-17 in Syria’s Hasakah region.

The 2014 U.S. State Department Human Rights Report also said the terrorist PKK — the YPG/PKK’s parent group — regularly recruited children in the past, though the number of child soldiers recruited by the PKK that year was unknown.

The report also said PKK had kept up abducting and conscribing young people, adding that it was not generally clear whether they joined by force or volunteered.

Families of allegedly abducted children staged several protests during the year demanding the terror group free their children, it added.

Kidnapping children

In 2015, the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report said Kurdish children were sometimes kidnapped and forced to participate in PKK forces, according to uncorroborated reports.

In the 2016 report, the U.S. said the YPG/PKK continued to recruit and use boys and girls, including children younger than 15.

According to the report, the YPG/PKK reportedly took the children to indoctrination and training camps.

In April 2015, a 16-year-old girl in Aleppo was allegedly recruited by YPJ/PKK female terrorists against the wishes of her family, said the report.

The forced recruitment of children by the YPG/PKK was also documented in reports of German-based Kurdwatch.

In a May 2015 report, Kurdwatch said the PYD/YPG/PKK kidnapped 12-year-old Fatimah S.A.

Quoting a family member, the report said: “The girl simply disappeared. Her parents are PYD supporters. However they weren’t asked if they wanted to send the girl to the military.

“The YPG claims that the girl decided by her own free will. Her parents were not even allowed to accompany their daughter. They were promised that after two weeks training, Fatimah would be allowed to return if she wants.”

According to the International Criminal Court, the enlistment and conscription of child soldiers under age 15, as well as using them to participate actively in hostilities, is a war crime.

According to the Turkish General Staff, Operation Olive Branch aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria’s territorial integrity, it said.

The military also said only terror targets are being destroyed and that “utmost care” is being taken to avoid harming civilians.

Source: AA

If children make good terrorists and kill, the PKK takes it as an achievement over its enemy, the Turkish state. If they die, then they make good propaganda material for the organization to use against the Turkish state. After all, an image of a war between children with slings and soldiers with tanks gives the PKK the upper hand in its propaganda war if not in the real battle field. While the picture that the PKK wants us to see is the stone throwing kids against the armed vehicles of the Turkish army, there are thousands of other kids who do not only hold little rocks but also machine guns and bombs in their hands (and on their bodies as suicide bombers) in the PKK ranks. This piece will touch upon both kinds of child reserves that the PKK mobilizes for its campaign.It is no secret that the PKK uses children under the age of 18.

The organization does not even try to hide it but is pretty much proud of it. Any pro-PKK documentary film that the PKK allows to be filmed in their camps includes interviews with PKK members, and many of them proudly tell their stories of joining the organization, mostly before the age of 18. Since dead men tell no tales, what we do not see in those documentaries is that many of them lose their lives in the conflicts before they see their 18th birthday. Nevertheless, here we are not only talking about say 17 year old Kurdish boys, but also little kids as young as 9, according to the most recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report as well as other documented cases in other sources.A recent HRW report has vividly demonstrated the PKK and its Syrian branch PYD’s use of children in their military ranks.

The PKK recruits (and also abducts) children, provides them military training and uses them in its battle against Turkey. HRW documented 29 cases in which the PKK recruited Kurdish and Yezidi children in Northern Iraq and the organization called on the PKK to “categorically denounce the recruitment and use of child soldiers”. In fact, 29 is just a small number compared to the total size of the PKK’s army of children. As a senior HRW researcher indicates, it is just “a drop in the bucket” and the PKK’s child soldiers that the HRW team could reach told them there were “many many many other children with them” in the PKK’s training camps. Estimates of the true size of the PKK’s child soldiers reach as high as over 3,000 excluding the number of children in Turkey that the PKK occasionally uses.http://thenewturkey.org/the-rise-of-secular-radicalization-and-the-pkk/Not to forget, here we are talking about children not as legally defined in domestic law. Many of these children are little kids under 15 and, in some cases, as young as 9 years old girls as mentioned in the HRW report. The age group 15 to 18 requires no specific inquiry because, frankly speaking, this is a big chunk of the PKK’s manpower (in this case, boy- and girlpower).The PKK, as reported by HRW, “abducted or seriously abused children who tried to leave their forces.” Abduction (by threatening the parents or kidnapping children with no notification to the family) is not the only way the PKK recruits children though. The PKK itself operates a number of primary schools in the PYD-ruled Syrian and PKK-ruled Iraqi territories while it often calls parents not to send their kids to the schools in Turkey and even attacks those schools at times.The textbooks in the PKK’s own schools across the border feature the speeches of the PKK’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan. Kurdish and more recently Yezidi children at those schools are taught to kill and die for the PKK’s fight. In other words, the PKK’s schooling system brainwashes young minds and implants in them a desire to fight and die (to be a PKK martyr) in a very early age. Many families fear that such radically and ideologically loaded curriculums may influence their children in places like the PYD-ruled Rojava cantons, but there is no other choice.

While the PKK seems to be unhappy about reports on its child soldiers carrying bombs or machine guns in its camps in Iraq and Syria, it proudly shows off the children’s “resistance” against the Turkish police in Turkey’s cities. Children were in the front lines in the PKK’s trench war in its attempt to create liberated urban areas in southeast Turkey in the Summer of 2015 as well. As the PKK’s professional forces withdrew from the towns after the defeat, these local children surrendered in tens and the total number of surrendered and captured children reached in the hundreds in less than a few months.

In a nutshell the PKK needs children to kill and die for the organization. They help the PKK both dead and alive. At the end of the day, each child soldier is a soldier for the PKK and can be used against Turkey. If they happen to die in combat, then the PKK aims to gain sympathy over the children’s dead bodies. So, the PKK’s reasoning is pretty clear, it is a win-win game.

But what about the children themselves, why do they join the PKK either as full members or as part-time militants? Well, there is no single answer to that question and individual reasons vary. Some children do, in fact, voluntarily start fighting in the PKK ranks as early as 12 years old. Some others are simply kidnapped or abducted. Some join the PKK together with their family members while some others do not seek parental consent. Some children may start by throwing stones at police as a game, spurned to do so by older people already part of the PKK or sympathetic groups, of course the child’s mother may notice him in the crowd and take him home.

Well, this whole thing is a tricky issue for the Turkish security forces. For one thing, it is not always easy to spot the age of an enemy who is directing a machine gun at them or about to throw a bomb at them. Nevertheless, if the security forces are not in an immediate danger situation, which means that they do not have to act in a few seconds before a bomb drops on them, they have more of a chance to deal with the PKK’s child militants.

At the end of the day, they are children. If you can get the gun from their hands before they pull the trigger or the bomb before they throw it and give a ball instead, they shoot to score rather than kill. Sometimes it is as simple as that as seen in the case of police officer Asum Bulat who repeatedly disarmed stone throwing or tire burning children by passing out bananas or chocolate to the crowd. It gets harder though as bombs start to replace stones.

Sometimes, a 14 year old loses his fingers when a handmade bomb explodes in his hand before he could throw it at the police. Sometimes those handmade bombs burn other people alive. And it gets hardest when a kid is taken from his/her family and goes through ideological and military training in the camps for months. They are taught to kill and die before they could have a chance to live their own lives. Here, it is pointless to try to shame the PKK who have and will continue to use child soldiers no matter what. The cure is somewhere between the baby being born and it growing into a killer. The cure is in care, hope and love as melted in police officer Asum Bulat’s sweet chocolates.