The Turkish police on Saturday interrupted the weekly vigil of the Saturday Mothers, a group that gathers every week in Istanbul’s Galatasaray square, and arrested 15 people, Gazete Karınca reported.
The group, which seeks justice for their loved ones who disappeared under state custody in the 1990s, was holding its 941st vigil.
Eren Keskin, a prominent human rights lawyer and the co-chair of the Human Rights Association (İHD), is among the protestors who are under police custody.
The group has been demanding Turkish police comply with the decision made in February by the country’s Constitutional Court (AYM), which ruled that the security forces’ efforts to prevent the weekly gatherings of the Saturday Mothers constituted a violation of basic rights and freedoms.
However, despite the court’s decision, the police once again tried to block the Saturday gathering of the group and prevent them from making a press statement.
“You have to comply with the decision of the AYM. Stop violating the rights of Saturday Mothers to gather and make a press statement. Immediately end the blockade in Galatasaray,” the İHD’s Istanbul branch said in a tweet.
“We will not give up Galatasaray, our gathering place! We will continue asking the whereabouts of our disappeared ones, demanding the punishment of the perpetuators, objecting to ongoing injustices, demanding rights and freedoms,” the Saturday Mothers said in a statement.
“The decision of the Constitutional Court is final,” the group said, adding that all institutions are required to comply with the verdict.
