Turkey's Saturday Mothers keep up vigil for lost relatives

International report

Turkey's longest-running peaceful protest has entered its thousandth week. For decades, the "Saturday Mothers" have been holding silent vigils to demand justice for relatives who disappeared while being held by security forces.

At Galatasaray Square, in the heart of Istanbul, a mother calls out for justice for a child who's not been seen for decades – since being apprehended by police.

The Saturday Mothers, named after a similar campaign in Argentina, gather in this square to demand answers. They want to know what happened to their missing relatives, and to hold those responsible to account.

On display are hundreds of photos of those who disappeared while being held by security forces. Among the youngest is a 13-year-old shepherd called Davut.

Denials

Ikbal Eren has been campaigning for decades to find the truth behind her brother Hayrettin's enforced disappearance.

"Hayrettin Eren was detained at the Saraçhane crossing in Istanbul and taken to the Gayrettepe police headquarters, where he disappeared," Eren says.

"Although we have five witnesses confirming his detention, they always deny he was held. We also saw his car in the yard of the Security Directorate."

Even if 44 more years pass, Eren says he will not give up seeking justice for his brother and the others who are missing.

Hayrettin vanished during military rule in the 1980s, but most of the hundreds of enforced disappearances happened in the 1990s at the height of the Turkish state's war against the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK.

"Especially in the early '90s – '92 to '94 mostly – an enormous number of mainly men were arrested and never seen again," says Emma Sinclair Webb of Human Rights Watch.

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Justice eluded

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised justice in 2011, when he was prime minister, after meeting with some of the Saturday Mothers.

There were criminal investigations into those accused of being behind the disappearances, and even court cases, but all ended in acquittal.

The state has cracked down on the mothers in recent years, deeming their protest to be subversive. Galatasaray Square is now permanently sealed off, and usually only a weekly token of 10 or so people are allowed in.

"Those in power cannot bear to have these women and the relatives of the disappeared meeting every Saturday and presenting them with the crimes the state committed," said Sinclair Webb.

"For years the authorities have done everything in their power to criminalise this vigil and those who have been involved in it."

The thousandth week anniversary of Saturday Mothers, held in May, saw an outpouring of support across social media – and even a pop music video commemorating their struggle.

Rock star Teoman recorded the song "Saturday Mothers", recalling the fight for justice in the face of intimidation and adversity. The song's video went viral across social media.

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Ongoing struggle

With the Saturday Mothers campaign passing the thousand-week threshold, they're vowing to continue until they find justice for their lost relatives.

"We are trying to explain that our disappeared are not abandoned; they are not orphans. We are trying to learn about their fate," says Birsen Karakoc, who's been searching for her brother Ridvan since the 1990s.

"We are trying to understand why they were tortured to death. We want justice; that is why we are here every week.

"For 30 years we have been here since the first week, and we will continue to be here."

At the end of the 1,000th-week ceremony in Galatasaray Square, Birsen's brother Hasan places flowers on a sculpture celebrating the Turkish Republic.

He calls out to onlookers to say: "Until all our disappeared are found and those responsible are brought to justice, we will never give up."