The struggle of the families of the disappeared and the defenders of human rights for the disappeared has continued in Turkey since 1995. The Saturday Mothers, who gather each Saturday at Galatasaray Square in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, will come together this weekend for the 530th time.

The struggle for the disappeared in Turkey started with the demand for the revolutionary communist Hasan Ocak to be found. While the disappeared people and unsolved murders had always been on the agenda in Turkey since the 70’s, it did not prove possible to organise a systematic struggle against this state policy until 1995.

Hasan Ocak, who was one of the leading persons in the upheaval against counter-guerrilla attacks in the Gazi neighbourhood in Istanbul, was abducted on 21 March 1995. His family and comrades campaigned for months, saying “you took him alive, we want him alive” for him to be found.

Candles were lit in the centre of the city for Hasan Ocak, hunger strikes held, CHP buildings occupied and labour unions held marches. In addition to these struggles in the streets, the family of Hasan Ocak tried every possible judicial and administrative way. But each institution gave the same reply to the family: “There is no such person registered in our records”.

News of Ocak came only at the end of the 57th day. His tortured body was found in the Altınşehir Cemetery for Unidentified People. He had been strangled with wire. His belt and shoe laces had been removed, as is always done when people are taken into custody. His body was taken from the Altınşehir Cemetery on 17 May, and was buried on 19 May in Gazi Cemetery at a funeral attended by thousands.

Hasan Ocak’s being found meant the state had been caught red handed. But the murderers were not found. Although there was a relative decline in the number of the disappeared following the struggle for Hasan Ocak, the bodies of Rıdvan Karakoç and Ayşenur Şimşek were found in the same period. Again, following a struggle of 21 days, Ayhan Uzala was found alive and blindfolded in the İzmit-Hendek “Death Triangle”.

The struggle for the disappeared did not end after Hasan Ocak was found. The struggle evolved into a permanent one under the slogan “Find the Disappeared, Bring Those Responsible to Justice”. ‘Buses for the disappeared’ departed from Kadıköy, Istanbul and visited many Turkish and Kurdish cities to inform people of the disappeared. Hasan Ocak’s mother, Emine Ocak, and many others turned the square in front of parliament into a place of protest.

While the sit-down protests continued in Kadıköy and Bakırköy in Istanbul, the Saturday actions, inspired by the Thursday actions of the Plaza de Mayo Mothers in Argentina, were launched. The first Saturday Action, led by the Ocak family, the mother of Hüseyin Toraman, Hatice Toraman, the wife of Hasan Gülünay, Birsen Gülünay, and human rights activists, took place on 27 May 1995 in Galatasaray Square in Istanbul.

Since then, each Saturday, the relatives of the disappeared, their friends and comrades and human rights activists have assembled at Galatasaray at 12:00 holding carnations and pictures of the disappeared.

During these protests until 13 March 1999, the families pointed out the counter guerrilla forces behind the disappearances and demanded that they be brought to justice.

But these 200 weeks were not easy. The families faced state violence. The mothers were attacked by the police, targeted by gas bombs and police dogs, and they were detained and arrested. The actions were ended after the 200th week because of intense attacks and repression.

But, as the ones behind the disappearances were arrested in the context of the Ergenekon investigations, the families re-launched the sit-down protests on 31 January 2009 in order for those responsible for the disappearances to be put on trial.