Saturday Mothers/People visited Berkin Elvan’s family after 468th meeting which took place in Galatasaray Square.
The visit was attended by Emine Ocak, Hanım Tosun, Hanife Yıldız, Şeker Naz Çakır, Mother “Güzel”, their children, Human Rights Association commissioners against losses in custody and Saturday People.
“Berkin is also our son. The struggle to find the offenders of Berkin and judge them is also our struggle, it is our duty,” Saturday Mothers told Elvan’s family.
Emine Ocak, one of the Saturday Mothers, said that she has been struggling for her son and all those who disappeared in police detention for 19 years.
“The loss is not just my son, children were killed in Roboski, too. I will stand for all of them. I will not dread before killers of my son are called to account, I will give my son’s killers what for,” said Gülsüm Elvan, Berkin Elvan’s mother.
Berkin’s grandfather said the state continued to tyrannize for centuries. “They lost my two children and a sibling. I was wondering what more they could do to us and now they killed my grandchild.”
Elvan family concluded that disappearances and unclaimed killings usually targeted Alevi and Kurdish peoples and it was a systematic practice of the state. (KC/BD/BM)
* News and photo credit: Kadir Celep / Human Rights Association Istanbul Bureau Commision against losses in custody. Realistic Photographers Workshop