Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch announced in late June that Latifa Hamidi, a PKK member born and raised in Urmia, was a victim of the PKK’s endless war, according to the PKK militant website Firat news agency. She became a victim of the war between the PKK and Turkey, and was killed in a remote area in northern Iraq.
“She was killed along with three other women on April 29, 2021, in a battle with the Turkish army in the Helzil region of Amed province,” the PKK said. It is not yet clear why the PKK announces the death of its members with a delay of several months. The PKK’s vague policy of delivering the bodies of these people to their families also continues.
Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch has spoken to her family to find out more. Latifa’s family accidentally found out from their relatives that a picture of their daughter had been spread on the networks affiliated with that group, and they had published the news of her death.
Latifa’s brother told our correspondent: “The 14-year-old Latifa was deceived in 2002 in Qoni village of Sarv border section with her friend Parisa Rastgoo by some PKK forces crossing our village, which is considered a border area. Latifa was then transferred to northern Iraq to join the group, becoming a member of its military branch and working under the pseudonym “Berfin Nojan”.
Hassan Hamidi emphasized: “Latifa was a very young girl (14 years old) and we, after much follow-up, found out that she had been transferred abroad by the PKK. “It is natural that a 14-year-old girl does not have a clear understanding of things and cannot distinguish between good and bad.”
The brother of the Iranian member killed in the PKK stated, “We went to the PKK headquarters in Qandil (mountains in northern Iraq) in 1985 to bring Latifa back, but we failed to visit my sister.”
“Our ignorance of her wellbeing continued until 2021, when a relative reported that a picture of her was shown on the PKK satellite network, saying that she had been killed in a clash with Turkish troops,” he said. »
Hassan Hamidi added: “Unfortunately, the people of the border villages are not supported at all, and these groups, who enter Iran from abroad, are severely harassing the people of these areas. “These groups extort money from the people of the border villages, and there is no one to support us.”
He also said that my sister was a 14-year-old girl who could not understand issues like politics, as she remained uneducated. “Why should these groups take Latifa and her friends abroad for their own use? And today, after 16 years of ignorance, they only tell the family that she was killed! This is the news we had to wait so long for?!”
At the end of the conversation, Hassan criticized the fact that it is unfortunate that no one supports them, emphasizing that the Iranian government has done almost nothing for them and they do not know where to really complain.
According to previous reports published by Kurdistan Human Rights Watch, the PKK has always used the policy of intimidation, threats and, of course, deception to separate teenagers and even children from their families, with empty promises of a brighter future to reach out to them. It then uses them as terrorist targets in their war against Turkey.
In this regard, we emphasize once again that the country’s officials need to pay special attention to the issues and problems, mainly concerning economic situation, education and livelihood, of the people in border- and less developed areas, and should not allow armed groups to use financial promises as one of the tactics for recruiting local youth.
