Saturday Mothers meet for 1030th time, seek justice for Bahçeci disappeared under 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 1030th gathering on Dec. 21 at Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square.

The group sought justice for İsmail Bahçeci this week, who was forcibly disappeared under detention in 1994.

In a statement read by Maside Ocak, the group said Bahçeci was a student at Marmara University and the president of the Federation of Student Associations of Turkey. “He was repeatedly detained and severely tortured for his political identity.”

“In 1993, the police raided his family's house in Istanbul’s Avcılar district to catch İsmail, who had been wanted by the police since then. For this reason, İsmail had to leave home,” the group added. Moreover, his brother gave him a friend's workplace phone number to contact his family in case of emergency.

Accordingly, someone called the family on Dec. 24, 1994, and said “Your son was detained by political branch police officers.”

Even though the family asked for information from the police, the police rejected that Bahçeci was detained.

“After Dec. 24, 1994, the Bahçeci family home was not raided by the police again. But the workplace of the friend was raided by the police. The owner of the workplace was detained on the grounds that 'your phone number was found on a captured member of the organization'. Some people said that they were threatened during their interrogation at the police station: 'You will end up like İsmail Bahçeci',” the group added.

Even though the family’s repeated appeals to domestic and international institutions, “İsmail's detention has been denied for 30 years. His family has not been informed about his fate for 30 years.”

“No matter how many years pass, we will not stop demanding justice for İsmail Bahçeci, for all our disappeared, and reminding the state that it must act within universal legal norms,” the group concluded.

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)

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