Türkiye: Authorities must open Galatasaray Square permanently to Saturday Mothers/People ahead of their historic 1,000th vigil for missing relatives
Turkish authorities must lift permanently unlawful restrictions on Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square and allow the Saturday Mothers/People to gather there, said Amnesty International on the eve of their 1,000th vigil demanding justice for their loved ones forcibly disappeared after being detained in the 1980s and 1990s.
A high-level delegation from Amnesty International will join the Saturday Mothers in defiance of ongoing restrictions on gatherings in Galatasaray Square to stand alongside lawyers, journalists, trade unions, and other civil society organizations this Saturday.
“For one thousand Saturdays, the Saturday Mothers and their supporters have gathered peacefully – at times in the face of tear gas, rubber bullets and police violence – tirelessly seeking truth and justice for their loved ones,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.
“They have faced arbitrary detention and baseless prosecutions, two of which are still ongoing. I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Saturday Mothers in defiance of the unlawful restrictions they have endured since 2018 and to add the voices of tens of thousands of Amnesty International supporters around the world to uphold their right to demand truth and justice.”
For one thousand Saturdays, the Saturday Mothers and their supporters have gathered peacefully tirelessly seeking truth and justice for their loved ones
Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns
The Saturday Mothers/People (Cumartesi Anneleri/İnsanları) began their peaceful sit-ins in Galatasaray Square 29 years ago on 27 May 1995, calling on the authorities to investigate the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of people who were forcibly disappeared in detention and killed after Türkiye’s military coup in the 1980s and the state of emergency of the 1990s. No one has been brought to justice in relation to the enforced disappearances.
Since August 2018, Galatasaray Square has been surrounded by metal barriers blocking access and guarded by armed police. Attempts by the Saturday Mothers/People to gather there have been met with a heavy-handed security response. Two Constitutional Court rulings in 2022 and 2023, which found that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly of the applicants from Saturday Mothers/People had been violated and ordered for the violation not to be repeated, have remained unimplemented. However, in November 2023 there was some easing of restrictions with up to ten people being allowed to hold the vigil in Galatasaray Square and read out a statement each week remembering one of the victims of enforced disappearances.
“As one of the longest ongoing peaceful protests in the world, this vigil is a stark reminder of the crushing weight of grief suffered by relatives of forcibly disappeared people whose fate remains unknown,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.
“Subject to crackdowns and prosecutions, the Saturday Mothers vigil has also become emblematic of the severe and unlawful restrictions to peaceful protest in Türkiye. Their resilience and peaceful perseverance are a beacon to all who strive for truth and justice around the world and we join them in calling for the unlawful restrictions on their vigils in Galatasaray Square to be lifted permanently.”
As one of the longest ongoing peaceful protests in the world, this vigil is a stark reminder of the crushing weight of grief suffered by relatives of forcibly disappeared people whose fate remains unknown
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International
Background
On 20 May 2024, Amnesty International joined nine other NGOs in calling for the vigil in Galatasaray Square to be allowed to go ahead.
In 2018, riot police used excessive force to disperse the 700th weekly vigil by the group. Forty-six human rights defenders, including relatives who were subjected to that excessive use of force and unlawfully detained, are still on trial today. Another baseless prosecution of 20 people, again including relatives, started in February 2024.
Erika Guevara Rosas has travelled from Mexico as part of a high-level Amnesty International delegation. She will be speaking at a press conference at after the 1000th vigil on Saturday 25 May along with human rights organisations Human Rights Foundation of Turkiye, Memory Centre and Media Law Studies Association which have, together with Amnesty International’s Türkiye section, been monitoring the peaceful gatherings since April 2023 when the group returned to the Square but faced police excessive use of force and weekly detentions for 29 weeks.