Saturday Mothers not allowed to mark Enforced Disappearances Day

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Police did not allow a demonstration in from the Altınşehir Cemetery of the Nameless in İstanbul's Küçükçekmece district.

The Saturday Mothers/People wanted to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances by reading out a statement in front of the cemetery.

The police dispersed the crowd and detained at least 14 people.

The Human Rights Association called for the release of the detained: "We are calling out to the government, which is trying to silence the relatives of those who disappeared in detention. The detention of the rights defenders and the Saturday People is to ignore law and the Constitıtion. We will neither give up on the struggle for the disappeared nor our rights!"

#30AğustosUluslararasıZorlaKaybedilenlerGünü’nde, Altınşehir Kimsesizler Mezarlığı'nın önünde basın açıklaması yapmak istedik ancak polis ablukası ile karşı karşıya kaldık

En az 12 kişi gözaltındayız pic.twitter.com/Hz3P60ugsE

— Cumartesi Anneleri (@CmrtesiAnneleri) August 30, 2022

About Saturday Mothers/People

On May 27, 1995, Saturday Mothers/People gathered for the first time at Galatasaray Square for the ones who 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.

Since then, Saturday Mothers/People have not been allowed to gather at Galatasaray Square. (EMK/VK)