ISTANBUL -  On the 681st week of their protest, Saturday Mothers demanded the perpetrators of Nurettin Yedigöl to be punished. “We have demand owned to this country, we want the bones of our children,” said Sevim Yedigöl while speaking for Nurettin Yedigöl’s family.

 

Saturday Mothers gathered in Istanbul's Galatasaray Square for 681st time to ask the fate of their loved ones forcibly disappeared and to demand the perpetrators to be tried. This week, Saturday Mothers called for justice for Nurettin Yedigöl, who was disappeared in custody on April 10, 1981 in Istanbul. The Saturday Mothers and Saturday People (People supporting the mothers) placed carnations on the large white banner reading “The perpetrators are known, where the disappeared are?” Human Rights Association lawyer Gülseren Yoleri and Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu attended the protest in order to support the mothers. A glass of tea and bagel were also placed on the banner.

 

‘Our struggle will continue’

 

CHP MP and lawyers of the disappeared people Sezgin Tanrıkulu first spoke and he said, “Our mother Zeycan and this square don’t forget Nurettin. He is still in our memory. A war going on for seven years is beside us.  The government said, ‘Crimes against humanity shouldn’t go unpunished’. Your crimes on these lands will not go unpunished and drop due to prescription. We will continue to defend peace and democracy against the state of emergency. Our struggle will continue as long as this square exists.”

 

After the speech of Sezgin, Muzaffer Yedigöl began to speak. “I wish you met my brother Nurettin. My brother gave a lot of importance to helping each other and education. We learned how to live collectively and to help each other from him. It is very difficult to talk about my brother by using words.”

 

‘We have demands owned to this country’

 

Mentioning the rights violation during the period of September 12 (Turkish coup d'état on September 12, 1980), Muzaffer said, “I am sadly asking, why didn’t you judge those who headed the coup on September 12 like you did for those who headed the coup on July 15 (coup attempt on July 15, 2016)? We have demand owned to this country. We don’t demand job or money; we demand the bones of my brother. We demand a grave, we demand our mother Zeycan Yedigöl to not mourn for my brother anymore. Do we demand so many things from the state? We have been looking for his bones for 37 years. We demand those who cause his death to be tried.”

 

After this speech, Sevim Yedigöl spoke for her mother Zeycan Yedigöl and she said, “I am speaking for my mother now. My mother is still suffering and she says ‘I don’t want to die until Nurettin comes back, I don’t want to die before he comes back.’ She asks, ‘What did my son do? Did he steal something? What did he do? If he did something illegal, he should have been put behind bars.’ We demand justice and law. I hope they face worse situation than we face.”

 

‘We will insist the perpetrators to be punished’

 

Saturday Mothers member Gönül Sonbahar read the statement this week. Gönül said, “We will not get used to the thought says there is no law in Turkey. We will insist the perpetrators of Nurettin to be punished.”