Türkiye: Fully Open Galatasaray Square
For the past 28 years, the Saturday Mothers/People have tirelessly sought truth and justice for their loved ones who were forcibly disappeared in police custody in the 1980s and 1990s. Saturday Mothers/People began holding a peaceful weekly vigil in Galatasaray Square in central Istanbul since May 1995 demanding that the authorities account for the fate of their loved ones. Despite being detained every week, they continued to gather in the square until March 1999 when they faced heavy-handed police repression with the aim of stopping the peaceful protests from taking place. After a gap of ten years and because there was no progress in their quest for truth and justice for their disappeared relatives, the group returned to Galatasaray Square in January 2009.
Time and again, the Saturday Mothers/People have been met with brutal crackdowns and even prosecutions for taking part in peaceful vigils. Turkish authorities have never provided a valid justification for their unlawful denial of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
In August 2018, riot police used tear gas and water cannons as well as excessive force to disperse the hundreds of people who had peacefully gathered to mark the 700th weekly vigil. The justification for the intervention was a banning order by the Beyoğlu district governor on the grounds that the Square was not a designated location for assemblies and that they had not been notified of the assembly. 47 people were detained using excessive force. 46 of those were indicted in 2021 and are still facing the charges of ‘refusing to disperse despite warnings’. Their prosecution continues.
Following two positive Constitutional Court rulings in November 2022 and March 2023, concluding that the rights to freedom of assembly of the applicants had been violated and that the authorities should ensure non repetition of the violation, the groups has been peacefully attempting to hold their vigil since early April 2023, despite weekly detentions, police excessive use of force, at times amounting to torture or other ill-treatment. In August 2023, a new prosecution was initiated against 20 relatives and other human rights defenders who were detained on 10 June 2023 for ‘refusing to disperse despite warnings’. Their first hearing will be held in February 2024.
On 8 November 2023, in response to a question by an opposition MP in Parliament, the Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya said: ’What the Saturday Mothers are experiencing is victimisation. We will find a solution as soon as possible. As you saw we didn’t detain them this week.’ Subsequently, a limited vigil was allowed to take place with 10 relatives of the disappeared nearby Galatasaray Square.
Since August 2018, armed riot police have been continuously stationed in Galatasaray Square, blockading all access.