It seems the city of Oshnaviyeh has turned into a base for the armed men of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) while the Iranian government and military-security agencies are silent. The KDPI uses Oshnaviyeh as its largest recruiting center. Apart from terrorist activities, the children recruitment as soldiers by the KDPI is an important issue in the area. In the past two weeks, the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch (IKHRW) has published several reports on the abduction, deception, and illegal recruitment of Iranian Kurdish adolescents by the armed men of the KDPI. Teenagers who are deceived by the KDPI for money promise, job and a better life, but are finally led to the camps of the terrorist group. Some of them have managed to come back, but others are still captives by the terrorist group.
Born in 2002 and son of Pirot, Sardar Tabnak is a young Kurdish man who was captured by this armed and illegal group whose fate is still unknown. He has fallen victim to insecurity on the Irano- Iraqi border in the area while his family is worried about. As mentioned, it seems that Oshnaviyeh lacks the necessary security and stability as a border city as hundreds of Kurdish children have been abducted by armed men.
Although the armed groups claimed justice and equality as their slogans, the leaders of these armed groups and their own children are in Europe not in the military camps. Poverty and lack of information have led many young people to be deceived by these groups who abduct the children. Sardar Tabnak’s mother told the IKHRW reporter she was very worried about her son. She strongly criticized these groups, adding that many mothers in Oshnaviyeh and border villages have lost their children. A resident of Singan village told the IKHRW: “They easily enter border villages and kidnap the underage. Children are easily deceived and that is why the group focuses on them. They target only the children from poor families. I have never seen a child from a rich family abducted. Because they choose their targets among the poor families. Border villages have always been the target of these groups. Sardar’s uncle was also a member of the group. The group claims he was killed, but we did not see his body nor photo.”
“They deceive the under-ages and take them out of the country under the pretext of finding work, home and marriage,” he said on the KDPI militants’ method of deceiving Oshnaviyeh under-ages. The camps of this group are exposed to sexual corruption. Underage girls and boys live together. These attractions are effective in deceiving the targets. Apart from Sardar, I have two other children. They are also in danger. I criticize the government for not paying attention to these areas”.
“My son was abducted when he was 16 years old,” she added. “We have not heard from him for the last three years. We do not know if he is alive or not; everyone is worried about their children fearing they may be kidnapped in Oshnaviyeh and the surrounding towns. Feeling the insecurity and the movement of the KDPI members in the border villages is very strong. Despite having many financial problems, I went to Erbil and Dianeh. I saw my son in a camp. I asked him to come back, but party leaders warned the Iranian members on the consequences of returning. The under-ages have been told that, in case of returning to Iran, they will face imprisonment. For this reason, Sardar did not come back with me. They called him Sarkawt. He really wanted to return to Iran. But he was afraid. I am a mother and I feel that he regrets and wants to return, but he fears. Interestingly, I did not see even a single 30-year-old man in the KDPI camp. They were all 14 and 15 year olds.”
“These are the murderers of the Kurdish people,” she said on the popularity of armed groups in Oshnaviyeh. They do not care about people while they do not have mercy on children and their mothers who raised them with many difficulties? They have no plans other than destroying the people of the region and their families. We ask the government to do something! We got tired. One of my children was abducted, but I still have two more children at home. I do not feel safe for them. Help us to eradicate these armed groups.”
