Saturday Mothers/People demand justice for 26 years: ‘We won’t forgive’
* Photo: Saturday Mothers
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Saturday Mothers/People have been asking the fate and whereabouts of their enforced disappeared loved ones since May 27, 1995. On the 26th anniversary, they were once again at Galatasaray Square in İstanbul, where they expressed their demand for justice every Saturday for years, but they have "not been allowed" to gather since the 700th week in 2018.
Meeting at the square in Beyoğlu, Saturday Mothers/People laid red carnations at the square, saying, "Galatasaray Square, where we gathered to ask 'Where are our losses' 26 years ago, has become a meeting place with our losses for us. We will not give up Galatasaray Square, which has turned into a site of memory known by the world with us."
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Among the ones who laid carnations on the square were also Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Pervin Buldan, HDP İstanbul MP Oya Ersoy, HDP İstanbul MP Dilşad Canbaz Kaya and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu.
Buldan: We won't give up
Speaking at the gathering, Buldan said, "Those who banned this square to us should know that we will never give up seeking justice. We would like to especially note that we will seek a fair trial. This struggle will continue until the losses are found and perpetrators are put on trial."
'Struggle until last missing person is found'
A message was also shared on the Twitter account of Saturday Mothers:
"26 years ago today, we took to Galatasaray Square for our people whose existence was denied after they had been detained by the security forces of the state; we went there for the truth and for justice.
"We have not given up our losses or Galatasaray, our site of truth and memory, despite all pressure, disregard and obstructions.
"We have promised our losses. We will not give up until our last loss is found. We will not forgive the ones who made our loved ones disappear and the ones who protect the people who made them disappear."
What happened?It was 25 years ago on May 27, 1995 that Saturday Mothers/People gathered for the first time at Galatasaray Square for the ones disappeared in custody. The first sit-in protests started after the deceased body of Hasan Ocak, who was taken into custody on March 21, 1995, was found in the Cemetery of the Nameless after being tortured. The Saturday protests at Galatasaray Square were interrupted for an indefinite period of time on March 13, 1999 due to heavy police intervention for the last three years. The interruption continued for the next 10 years. The silent sit-in protests of Saturday Mothers/People, which they started again at Galatasaray Square in 2009, continued until the police intervention in August 2018. In the 700th sit-in on August 25, 2018, the police attacked the crowd with rubber bullets, detaining several relatives of the disappeared. The detained were released after giving their statements on the same day. Speaking about the incident, Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Chair Gülseren Yoleri said that the 700th week gathering was "arbitrarily banned with a decision signed by the Beyoğlu Sub-Governor within the knowledge of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. Detained in the 700th week, Maside Ocak said, "In 1997, we used to be detained as two generations; today, we were detained as three." Maside Ocak, the elder sister of Hasan Ocak, whose dead body was found in a common grave after he was detained on March 21, 1995, said that her 82-year-old mother Emine Ocak was attempted to be detained as well, she was not taken to the police bus at the last minute, she was pushed with police shields and her arms were bruised. According to the data of the Truth Justice Memory Center, 1,352 people have been subjected to enforced disappearance in Turkey. |
(DŞ/SD)