The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has recruited a nine-year-old child in the disputed Kurdish province of Kirkuk, the family revealed on Saturday.
Adnan Jabar, the father of the child, said in a statement that he went to a village in Kirkuk to celebrate the Kurdish New Year on 21 March 2016, where his nine-year-old son has gone missing.
He further noted that he was told by a security official in Kurdistan Region's Qalladza district the PKK had "kidnapped" nearly 70 children during that year.
"After a while, a PKK official told me that we have your child with us and don't worry about him. And if you think that your child is [too] young [to be recruited], I was only eight when I was brought to Qandil," Jabar said.
He revealed that the PKK has even threatened to label his son as a child belonging to the ISIS fighters if he insisted on returning his child.
"They told me that they would give a flag of Daesh to your son and say that we have detained a child of Daesh [militants]," Jabar added, using an Arabic acronym for the ISIS.
Adnan Jabar, the father of the child, said in a statement that he went to a village in Kirkuk to celebrate the Kurdish New Year on 21 March 2016, where his nine-year-old son has gone missing.
He further noted that he was told by a security official in Kurdistan Region's Qalladza district the PKK had "kidnapped" nearly 70 children during that year.
"After a while, a PKK official told me that we have your child with us and don't worry about him. And if you think that your child is [too] young [to be recruited], I was only eight when I was brought to Qandil," Jabar said.
He revealed that the PKK has even threatened to label his son as a child belonging to the ISIS fighters if he insisted on returning his child.
"They told me that they would give a flag of Daesh to your son and say that we have detained a child of Daesh [militants]," Jabar added, using an Arabic acronym for the ISIS.
