For the 1000th time since May 27, 1995, relatives of people reported missing while in police custody gathered at midday on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul. For this edition, hundreds of human rights activists were at their side.
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For almost thirty years, the image has not changed. Mothers, daughters, brothers clutching the photo of their missing loved one to their hearts and a red carnation in their hand gathered every Saturday at the same place in Istanbul. Their demands, too, have not changed: to know what happened to their loved one about whom they have not heard since they were in police custody in the 1980s or 1990s, and to judge those responsible if they are still alive.
Their manifestation is the oldest in Türkiye and one of the oldest in the world. The “Saturday Mothers” movement was inspired by that of “Saturday Mothers” Grandmothers (Abuelas) of the Plaza de Mayo ” in Argentinawhere relatives of victims of forced disappearances during the dictatorship (1976-1983) demonstrate every week to demand information.
Hayrettin has not given any sign of life since being taken into police custody in 1980. His brother, Faruk Eren, believes that “ this situation is a shame for Turkey “. “ We search for the graves of our loved ones and we demand justice. Instead, for a thousand weeks, the State has been in denial! He continues to tell us: no one has disappeared in police custody », he denounces on the microphone of our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer.
Since 2018, the gathering of “Saturday Mothers” has been banned and regularly repressed. For Faruk Eren, the stakes of their quest for justice and truth go beyond just the families of the missing. “ If the state does not confront this past, does not recognize the truth and if justice is not done, Turkey will never know democracy “, he says.
The legacy of a troubled time
In the 1980s and 1990s, security forces confronted the Kurdish guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeast, and far-left radical groups across the country. Several NGOs accuse the governments of the time of having committed numerous violations during arrests or in the treatment of detained people, with frequent use of torture.
In 2011, while he was Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had met a group of “Saturday Mothers” who demanded the creation of an independent commission of inquiry. The latter now fear that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in no hurry to exhume this past. For three years, these families seeking justice have themselves been judged and risk prison for “violation of the law on demonstrations”.
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(And with AFP)