Statement Under Police Blockade in 711th Week

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Saturday Mothers/People, who have not been allowed to stage their sit-in protests at Galatasaray Square in İstanbul since the 700th week of their protests, made the 711th statement for the press in Çukurluçeşme Street in Beyoğlu, where the İstanbul Branch Office of the Human Rights Association (İHD) is located, on November 10.

Carrying carnations and the pictures of their loved ones, who disappeared while in police custody, Saturday Mothers/People were also supported by representatives of non-governmental organizations and political parties.

This week's statement was attended by Republican People's Party (CHP) MPs Sezgin Tanrıkulu and Turan Aydoğan and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs Hüda Kaya, Oya Ersoy, Dilşat Canbaz and Garo Paylan.

Filippous from Amnesty: We will stand by you

Amnesty International's Campaigns Director for Europe Fotis Filippous also made a statement at the 711th statement for the press of Saturday Mothers/People. Filippo said,

"Your gathering in the 700th week has shocked us. We have been following what you have been going through since then with anger. Your right to ask the fate and whereabouts of your losses cannot be hindered or prevented.

"As Turkey branch (of Amnesty International), we will continue to stand by you and to launch campaigns of solidarity."

Besna Tosun: We will not give up on Galatasaray

Reading out this week's statement for the press on behalf of all Saturday Mothers/People, the daughter of Fehmi Tosun, who also disappeared while in police custody, Besna Tosun said,

"Like other rights violations, the crime of enforced disappearance in custody is also met with impunity due to legal and political factors.

"Though hundreds of people were subjected to enforced disappearance in custody, all channels of legal remedies have been denied to the families of the disappeared, which created a huge justice gap.

"Until the day, when our demand for the truth and justice is met, we will give up on neither looking for our losses, nor on the Galatasaray Square, which is our meeting place with our losses."

In their 711th week, Saturday Mothers/People asked the fate of Ramazan Yazıcı, who disappeared in custody in Silvan in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır in 1996. (EMK/SD)