Following its ongoing talks with the families of the victims of the PKK / PJAK crimes, Iran Human Rights Watch has held talks with Kowsar Mahmoudi, a former PJAK member who joined the group as a child soldier.
One of the consistent approaches of militant groups such as the PKK / PJAK is that after one or more years of the children being killed, they inform the families that their children have been killed and in most cases do not report their burial place. According to most families, PJAK has often pressured them NOT to talk to the media about their children, so that they can continue to “violate the rights of Kurdish citizens” in the shadow of media silence. Another point to consider is that the approach of militant groups such as PJAK in the use of children in war is contrary to their commitment under the Geneva Convention not to use children under the age of 18.
Perhaps the deception and abduction of Kurdish teenagers, youth and, of course, children, and then arming and using them for the purposes and interests of the leaders of militant groups such as PJAK and the PKK, is the only achievement and gift of those claiming to defend the rights of the Kurdish people. In fact, this is a human rights violation that these groups are constantly insisting on.
The PKK / PJAK has long been arguing for child soldiers, but more importantly, these groups deceive and arm underage children and adolescents. The ideology of the PKK is a kind of inconsistent copying of failed Marxist philosophy that has tried to dismember four cohesive countries by including the name of Kurdistan.
Since the establishment of the PKK and PJAK, they have not hesitated to commit any war crimes and use children or ordinary people as human shields. The issue that should concern human rights organizations more than anything else is the presence of child soldiers in these groups.
Children who have fallen prey to these elements due to family or economic problems; Kowsar Mahmoudi, 16, and her sister Shilan Mahmoudi, 12, were sisters who fell prey to PKK elements due to family issues and a range of traditional tribal views.
The full text of the conversation is as follows:
When I was studying, I got married at the insistence of my family, but unfortunately we had to get divorced due to a series of problems.
After the divorce, I was severely humiliated by my family and constantly beaten, while I met a person on social media who claimed to live in England. After a while, he claimed that if I became a member of the PKK, I could have a good life in the future, and I felt that I could go abroad as well.
That’s why, since the quarrel within my family intensified, I decided to leave home and join the group under the influence of that person’s words.
When I made my decision and because I did not want my little sister to live in the same conditions as me, I took her with me but I never knew that decision would waste several years of my life and most importantly my younger sister. When my sister and I became members of the PKK, they separated us after three months and did not allow us to be together.
It was there that I realized what a big mistake I had made and there was no news of a calm and peaceful life, I could not find a way to escape, even if there was a way, where could I go without my sister!
The promises that this person made to me were other than living in the mountains and working from morning till night! With that decision, I ruined my whole past and future, and with my own hands, I lost my little sister.
When they realized that I could escape at any moment, they sent me to Syria to be both away from my sister and unable to escape, even though they knew I could not fight physically, but they sent me to the battlefield several times so I could get was killed there, but I was able to survive. B
ut after a few years when I could no longer live there and hatred had taken over my whole being, I tried to find my sister so that we could run away together, but as far as I was looking for her, they kept us apart.
Eventually I decided to at least save myself, so I talked to someone I was more comfortable with, and we decided to run away together. Fortunately, after that decision, I was able to return home. I am still studying again, but I can never forget those bitter and wasteful memories of my life and many years of my youth, even if one day I can forget all these memories of losing my sister and ruining her life.
I can not cease to think about my sister, and I will never forgive myself.
I hope that one day my sister will be able to find a way to escape from there and return to her normal life.
