Some of the mothers and relatives were even taken into custody

Hasan Ocak’s mother, Emine Ocak was one of the mothers taken under custody by the police before the commemoration. The photo of her arrest, captured by journalist Hayri Tunç, was widely circulated on social media prompting a huge public outcry. Emine Ocak had also been photographed while being arrested 21 years ago by journalist Ahmet Şık. The outspoken journalist Şık, who was released from prison in March after more than 400 days in pre-trial custody before being elected to the Parliament during the general elections on June, was one of the deputies who attended the event. The police violently manhandled him along with other deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Saturday Mothers-Turkey’s most persistent dissidents

Noontime, on any given Saturday, in Galatasaray Square in the central Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, you will come across the same vigil of ageing women holding red carnations. They also hold up photographs – faded portraits, from the 1970s and 80s, and it is only time they break their silence to give commemorations that the […]