The Saturday Mothers, a group that has been holding sit-in protests since 1995 to demand justice for their disappeared relatives, were detained for the 28th time during their 969th weekly protest at Galatasaray Square in Istanbul, Turkey. This occurred despite a ruling from Turkey’s Constitutional Court (AYM) that should have protected their right to peaceful assembly. The police also detained members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) and a Turkish MP from the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), Ahmet Şık, who were supporting the protest.
In a separate but related sit-in in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern city Batman (Elih), relatives of the disappeared gathered for the 603rd week to inquire about the fate of Yılmaz Gümüş, who has been missing since 21 October 1993. Led by the Human Rights Association (İHD) Batman Branch, the gathering called for state accountability in revealing the whereabouts of the missing and for an apology to the families.
In another Kurdish-majority city, Diyarbakır (Amed), families of the disappeared gathered for their 767th protest. Holding banners featuring photos of their missing loved ones, the families were joined by Ömer Saman, Secretary of the İHD Diyarbakır Branch, who called for an end to destructive wars in the Middle East. The story of Hüseyin Aydemir, who went missing in Istanbul in 1995, was read out by İHD executive and lawyer Berfin Elçi. Aydemir’s tale highlighted the systemic human rights abuses and threats he and his family faced, leading to his eventual disappearance. Despite the lack of effective investigations and the closure of cases citing the statute of limitations, Elçi emphasised that they will never cease their quest for justice, echoing the sentiments of Aydemir’s late mother, Asiye Aydemir, and other mothers who passed away without finding their missing children.
The Turkey Journalists Union (TGS) Istanbul Branch released a report highlighting the police’s excessive use of force and obstruction of journalists covering the Saturday Mothers’ 968th protest last week. The report criticised the police and some local businesses for preventing journalists from doing their jobs, thereby infringing on the public’s right to information.
These events follow a history of legal battles and state resistance. In 2018, 23 people were detained during the Saturday Mothers’ 700th-week protest, leading to 46 people being charged with ‘opposing the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations’. Maside Ocak, sister of Hasan Ocak who disappeared in custody in 1995, had filed a criminal complaint against law enforcement officers, but the prosecutor’s office decided not to investigate. She then took the case to the AYM, which ruled in favour of her right to assemble but rejected her claim of “ill-treatment”.
The AYM had also ruled in May against the police’s use of force during the Saturday Mothers’ 700th-week protest, following an application by Gülseren Yoleri, president of the İHD Istanbul Branch. Despite these rulings, local authorities continue to prevent the Saturday Mothers from holding their protests.
The TGS report concluded by calling on the Istanbul Governorship and the Interior Ministry to cease their obstruction of journalists and to allow them to freely cover the Saturday Mothers’ protests. It emphasised that the issue is not just about the journalists but about the public’s right to know, stating, “Your use of disproportionate force does not change the fact that you are infringing on the freedom to receive information.”
