Saturday Mothers meet for 1024th time, seek justice for Bayram and Tekin disappeared under police custody

Ferhat Yaşar / DUVAR

Turkey's Saturday Mothers, a group who has been holding vigils for their relatives who disappeared or were killed in suspicious circumstances in the 1990s, held its 1024th gathering on Nov. 9 at Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square.

The group sought justice for Mehmet Şirin Bayram and Ramazan Tekin this week, who were forcibly disappeared under detention in 1996.

In a statement, the group said, the Bayram family was living in a southeastern village, refusing to be guards.

“When villagers refused to become guards, the village was burned down in 1994 and people were forcibly displaced. Bayram family also had to migrate to Diyarbakır. Mustafa Bayram went to Kocaeli with his son Şirin to work in construction. Şirin, 18 years old, told his family that there was a girl he loved. The families met. Şirin came to village from Kocaeli for the engagement. He went to the house of Ramazan Tekin, a relative of his, in the Demirci village of Kulp. On the night of Nov. 2, 1996, soldiers and village guards raided the house of 65-year-old Ramazan Tekin. Ramazan Tekin and Mehmet Şirin Bayram, a guest in the house, were detained,” it said.

“A village guard said that he had seen Mehmet Şirin Bayram blindfolded at a gendarmerie station and had spoken to him. However, when the village guard was called to the police station, he was threatened with violence and withdrew his testimony. Families who applied to official authorities to reach the missing persons faced heavy pressure and threats. As in other disappearances, no effective investigation was carried out. Ramazan Tekin and Mehmet Şirin Bayram were never heard from again; their fate remained in the dark and their perpetrators were left unpunished,” it added.

The group called on authorities to investigate their disappearance and unearth the truth regarding them. 

“For 28 years, the Bayram and Tekin families have been living with the pain of not knowing the fate of their loved ones. For 28 years his mother, father and siblings have been searching for Mehmet Şirin. For 28 years his fiancée has been saying 'I will wait for Şirin until I hear from him, dead or alive'. Disappearance under custody is a crime open to investigation indefinitely and is not subject to a statute of limitations.”

“Believing that the search for justice will be fulfilled, we will continue to ask for the fate of all our disappeared loved ones in the person of Şirin. This state owes the life of a child to every mother in this geography. The state has to face this reality,” it noted.

The group also condemned the government’s recent trustee appointments to replace three pro-Kurdish DEM Party mayors.

Since 1995, the Saturday Mothers have staged a sit-in at Galatasaray Square, demanding answers about their loved ones who disappeared in custody and calling for the prosecution of those responsible.

(English version by Alperen Şen)