'We were subjected to violence, the state should have been put on trial'

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The "700th Week" lawsuit filed against Saturday Mothers/People started at the İstanbul 21st Penal Court of First Instance today (March 25).

Following the statements of the defendants and their attorneys, the judge has announced his interim ruling, adjourning the trial till July 12.

CLICK - Lawsuit against Saturday People over their 700th gathering

A lawsuit was filed against 46 people who were detained during the police attack targeting the 700th gathering of Saturday Mothers/ People, who have been demanding justice for their enforced disappeared relatives at Galatasaray Square in İstanbul. Since the police intervention in the 700th week on August 25, 2018, they have been prevented from gathering there.

As part of this recent lawsuit, the defendants have been charged with "unarmed participation in unlawful demonstrations and marches and refusal to disperse despite warning" and they now face a possible sentence for violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations.

The only evidence cited in the indictment is the report written by the police on the day and place of the incident and a document of inquiry.

CLICK - Police Attack Saturday Mothers with Plastic Bullet

Judge rejected request for acquittal

While the hearing started at 3.15 p.m., journalists could hardly get in. The hearing was followed by Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) MPs Oya Ersoy, Züleyha Gülüm, Dilşat Kaya, Musa Piroğlu, Ali Kenanoğlu, Turan Aydoğan, Ali Şeker, Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi, Süleyman Bülbül and Independent MP Ahmet Şık.

Speaking first at the hearing, Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair lawyer Öztürk Türkdoğan requested an immediate acquittal for the defendants. Judge Naim Atam rejected the request.

Giving information about the history of enforced disappearances in Turkey, Türkdoğan reminded the court board and the audience of a report prepared by the 19th term Parliament and said that in the related report, enforced disappearances and execution were accepted.

'Ban not notified 24 hours before'

Further in his defense statement, Türkdoğan underlined that Galatasaray Square in front of Galatasaray High School in Beyoğlu, İstanbul became almost a site of memory as Saturday Mothers/People and İHD İstanbul Branch's Commission on Enforced Disappearances had been holding sit-in protests there for 700 weeks without any interruptions.

Underlining that this situation "turned the sit-in protests into a traditional meeting within its own rules and boundaries, as per the Article 4 of the Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations'', Türkdoğan said, "Therefore, the fact that such a demonstration or meeting is taken within the scope of the Law no. 2911 is against the exception governed by the law itself."

Referring further to the Law no. 2911, Türkdoğan stressed that "as per the Article 18/1 of the Law no. 2911, meetings shall be banned at least 24 hours before and the ban shall be notified within 24 hours."

"When we look at the concrete case, it will be seen that the ban or the notification was not the case before the traditionally held meeting. Therefore, it is against the law itself that the expression of 'unlawful meeting' is used," underlined lawyer Öztürk Türkdoğan.

'Ban is against the law'

Further in his defense, Türkdoğan noted that "it is against the law that the meeting for seeking justice held for 700 weeks was banned."

"It is also against the law that the ban was not notified before the meeting. It is also against the law that the meeting was prevented by force and several people were detained. The ones who attended the meeting did not do or say anything that was against the law or constituted a crime.

"The aim in a penal procedure is to find the truth. When the concrete incident is examined, it is obviously against the law that a lawsuit has been filed against the ones who joined the most long-running protest for justice and civil disobedience of Turkey that cannot be considered within the frame of this law," Türkdoğan said, demanding that a ruling of immediate acquittal be handed down as per the Article 223/9 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

"It hurt the consciences that the ones searching for their enforced disappeared loved ones are put on trial," he added.

Ocak: How could it be a crime to want a grave?

Speaking after Türkdoğan, Maside Ocak said, "The person whose picture you see on my neck is my elder brother Hasan Ocak. It was not accepted that he was detained, but there were those who saw him. Our applications remained inconclusive. We reached his dead body by identifying a photo days later. I have been seeing this photo for 26 years."

She continued as follows:

"My elder brother was tortured and strangled. No one was put on trial. There were some prosecutors who said, 'Turkish police do not torture.'

"We have been demanding justice for 26 years, we have become a family in Galatasaray. We said farewell to the coffin of Mother Berfo. We had only one demand. How could it be a crime to demand a grave? I cannot understand it in any way whatsoever.

'We want our rights in laws'

"We demand our rights written in the laws, but neither can we reach our loved ones nor do we exercise our rights.

"I was 19 when I went to that square. I am 45 now. I have come here by bearing what everyone there was seeking, I have come here with the shawl Mother Elmas put around my neck before she lost her life.

"We were there one day after the coup attempt, because we are against coups, because we are against bombs. We did not hurt even the tiniest creature while seeking justice.

'Security said, "May it be easy," then...'

"We even met the security forces after bomb attacks for the safety of everyone, we felt responsible for everyone.

"In the 700th week, the security forces told us, 'May it be easy.' 15 minutes later, they said that it was banned, we were surrounded, I could not protect my mother who was walking with a walking stick.

"I saw my loved ones being beaten. My mother said, 'I won't die until I go to Galatasaray.' Our mothers do not have to live like this. What the court has to do is not putting us on trial, but protecting our rights."

'There was no crime for 699 weeks'

In his statement, Ali Ocak said, "We have been meeting in that square for 26 years so that the criminal will be put on trial. No crime had been found in our protest for 699 weeks. Our demand is an effective investigation, how could this be a crime?" Ali Ocak, having a hearing impairment, said that he had not heard the warning of the police to disperse.

Maside Ocak also added, "That day, they did not even let us take our old mothers out of the square, dragging them on the ground."

Eren: Does prosecutor's office defend torture?

Journalist Faruk Eren said:

"I am the relative of an enforced disappeared person as well. I am the son of Elmas Eren, who lost her life.

"My elder brother was detained during the military coup of September 12, 1980. They said, 'We don't have him.' My brother has been detained for 42 years. Hayrettin Eren has been missing since then.

"My mother had waited for my brother until she passed away. At last, we said, 'At least, give us his bones.' At first, we thought that it only happened to us. Then, we saw that some of the detained would not come up.

"We came together in Galatasaray. There had been no problems for 699 weeks. We were attacked in the 700th week.

"According to the indictment, we chanted slogans against torture. They wrote it there... We did, I would do it again. Does the prosecutor's office defend torture? We sat in that square not only for our own losses, but so that there would no longer be any losses in Turkey.

"My family had been tortured for 40 years as well. A notice came to our house, saying, 'Your son is a deserter.'

"Those disappeared by this fascist junta... Or in the 90s... Hundreds of people were disappeared. The fact that this protest is banned means that the state claims responsibility, saying, 'Yes, we did it'."

Adil Can Ocak: We were subjected to violence

Adil Can Ocak stated:

"I grew up in that square, I am the nephew of Hasan Ocak. I had never seen that this activity was a crime, it was said in the 700th week that it was a crime. I do not think that the protest is a crime. I want the fate and whereabouts of the enforced disappeared to be revealed, just like any other citizen. In fact, we were the ones subjected to violence that day."

Koptaş: We were subjected to beating, swears

Journalist and publisher Rober Koptaş also said that he was at the square as a citizen. "I was there because I thought that these people were waging a struggle that should be rewarded, not punished. We were subjected to an hostile intervention," Koptaş said and briefly added:

"I was detained while I was sitting on the ground with a group of MPs and rights defenders. Some friends were dragged on the ground, people were rear-handcuffed, we were subjected to beating and swearwords. The ones who did all these are the ones who must be put on trial."

He added, "Gathering in the most peaceful way is not a crime."

Koç: I expected those officers to be out on trial

Deniz Koç's statement was as follows: "There was no politics in that protest. They had only one trouble, they are asking the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. I was there, too on that day. I asked what was happening, I was detained as well. We were subjected to inhumane treatment. What I expected was that those police officers be put on trial."

Altıparmak: State should have been tried

Taking the floor afterwards, attorney Kerem Altıparmak underlined that the state should have been tried over the intervention. "It is still not clear why a protest that had been held by Saturday Mothers for 699 weeks was prevented in the 700th week," he said and briefly added:

"Minister Soylu declared people terrorists by himself, accused the people who had lost their children of being a disguise for terror and banned a protest that had been going on for 699 weeks for an arbitrary reason. As there was no material evidence or ground of the Minister's allegations, the administration then tried to legitimize the decision based on arbitrary evidence that could not be related to the Saturday Mothers' protest."

Next hearing on July 12

The attorneys of the defendants repeated their request for the acquittal of their clients. Announcing his/her opinion afterwards, the prosecutor demanded that the statements of the defendants who did not make their statements at today's hearing be completed. 

Judge Naim Atan has handed down his interim ruling and ruled that law enforcement shall be requested to submit the document indicating that the decision of ban was notified to lawyer Gülseren Yoleri in written form. The next hearing of the case will be held on July 12.

Press statement before the hearing

Saturday Mothers/People made a statement for the press in front of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan before the hearing. The group was surrounded by several police officers during the press statement.

Speaking first, Hanife Yıldız said, "This is not our site of gathering; we hope that we will meet in Galatasaray in the shortest time possible."

Human Rights Association (İHD) Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan also said, "How could you put a protest that had been held in the same way for 700 weeks on trial? We are the ones who press charges."

The statement for the press was read out by Jiyan Tosun on behalf of the Saturday Mothers/People. The statement of rights defenders has stressed that they will not give up their struggle for rights at any costs.

'Erdoğan met them in 2011'

Lawyer Ahmet Cihan, the brother of Süleyman Cihan, one of the enforced disappeared of the September 12 coup period, briefly said:

"Galatasaray Square has been identified with the relatives of the enforced disappeared. This protest led to a decrease in the number of enforced disappearances. In 2011, they met Erdoğan, the then Prime Minister.

"103-year-old Mother Berfo was there. Her speech at the Parliament was reported in the press, her reproach was heard. In 2018, Erdoğan was the President and the square was closed to Saturday Mothers.

"A peaceful demonstration, as a rule, cannot be penalized. The basic criteria is that the demonstration is peaceful. The intervention of the law enforcement or criminal proceedings are against the law."

Concluding his remarks, Cihan stated, "The relatives of the enforced disappeared here in this room are standing trial because they demanded the truth and justice. If there had been no intervention that day, they would ask the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones."

Lawsuit against 46 rights defenders

The following people face a lawsuit over their participation in the 700th week: Koray Çağlayan, Koray Kesik, Leman Yurtsever, Levent Gökçek, Lezgin Özalp, Maside Ocak, Mehmet Günel, Muhammed Emin Ekinci, Ayça Çevik, Besna Koç, Cafer Balcı, Can Danyal Aktaş, Cihan Oral Gülünay, Cüneyt Yılmaz, Deniz Koç, Ercan Süslü, Ezgi Çevik, Faruk Eren, Fecri Çalboğa, Ferhat Ergen, Gamze Elvan, Hakan Koç, Hasan Akbaba, Hasan Karakoç, Jiyan Tosun, Kenan Yıldızerler, Murat Akbaş, Murat Koptaş, Onur Yanardağ, Osman Akın, Özer Oymak, Özge Elvan, Ramazan Bayram, Rüşa Sabur, Sadettin Köse, Adil Can Ocak, Ahmet Karaca, Ahmet Süleyman Benli, Ali Ocak, Ali Yiğit Karaca, Atakan Taşbilek, Ataman Doğa Kıroğlu, Saime Sebla Arcan, Sinan Arslan, Ulaş Bedri Çelik, Volkan Uyar.

It is also decided that the case files of the MPs who were there to attend the demonstration be separated from others as they have legislative immunity.

(AS/SD)