“Mojdeh and her daughter were very close to each other, and this caused mental problems in my daughter.”
“She told me several times that if I did not bring her daughter to her, she would either run away from home or commit suicide.”
These are part of the words of the mother of “Mojdeh Gholami”, a former member of PJAK, in a conversation with the Human Rights Watch of Iranian Kurdistan, which shows that one of the most important reasons for recruiting in such groups is family problems!
Much has been said about the reasons for being recruited and, of course, how the PKK / PJAK recruits. The phenomenon becomes unbelievable.
The children of such families, who can not bear the economic and social problems and of course the sometimes unreasonable and irrational pressures of their parents, seek refuge, but are unaware that they are going nowhere and ruining their lives and subsequently the lives of their families.
These people suffering from their family dynamics are suitable and comfortable prey for PJAK members so that they can draw them the image of a better future and life in that group by maneuvering on their thoughts, and with empty and baseless promises, they can control the minds of these people and deceive them easily.
But in the meantime, those Iranian Kurdish families who have problems within their family can provide the ground for the outbreak of children, adolescents and even young people more than others.
Sometimes unstable relationships between parents and children and the lack of proper interaction between them with each other lead to the formation of difficult psychological conditions for children and lead them to irrational and emotional decisions.
On the other hand, insufficient attention to the wishes and demands between couples and perhaps inappropriate understanding of each other’s situation and of course many other factors can cause the disintegration of a couple’s life.
In all these cases, there is a potential for people affected by these problems to become people like “Dana Ahmadi” – one of the child soldiers currently inside PJAK – and “Mojdeh Gholami” and we must be more careful so that people affected by these problems are not targeted by armed groups looking for fresh meat.
As unlike in other parts of the world, youngsters do not face the same opportunities as the youth elsewhere. They cannot simply find a job and rent a room like others, as many lack the education or job experience to do so, and face enormously high leases when looking for rental property. Security nets for young women that face abuse by either their partner or their family remain almost non-existent. Joining an armed group thus seems the way out for many of these vulnerable young people, that pressured by their home situation and lack of a viable alternative, easily get tricked inside a group that does not allow them to leave.
Therefore, we hope that the Iranian government officials will take serious and serious steps to “eliminate the roots and factors of recruitment” among the Iranian Kurdish families for the PKK / PJAK, by attempting to battle the poverty, tribalism, lack of women’s rights within Kurdish society, and lack of education and economic opportunities in these areas.
