Istanbul Peace Mothers Assembly members joined the Justice March on the 12th day with their white scarves. The mothers have been demanding justice for years, come rain or come shine, and now they voiced their demand for justice as part of the march.

Perihan Akbulut from the Peace Mothers had to migrate to Istanbul after her village, Çelik village in Mardin’s Derik district, was burned in 1993. Akbulut said she is looking for peace, and that they have been demanding justice for years.

“We stand with everyone who demands true justice,” said Akbulut and added that there can’t be peace without justice. Akbulut said: “The prisons are filled with our children because there is no justice. The cemeteries are filled with the bodies of our children. Our will in the parliament has been arrested. This country will be saved if justice is achieved. We also need justice for Imralı, if there was justice in the country the will of 40 million people Abdullah Öcalan would not be in prison today.”

Akbulut said all the peoples of Turkey should defend justice and added: “Like all came together during the Gezi times, all should come together here and now. Like we came from Istanbul to join this march, all should come and join.”

Peace Mother Revşan Dündar had to migrate to Istanbul when her village in Bitlis’ Hizan district was burned in 1994. She said they joined the march because they are “seeking justice”, but that the march would remain lacking if it stayed the way it is. Dünar stated that it wasn’t just Enis Berberoğlu that was imprisoned, and pointed out the arrest of HDP MPs. Dünar stressed that the Justice March should not end in the Maltepe Prison, but continue until Silivri and Edirne Prisons.

Today marks the 13th day of the Justice March, and the activists have passed the Bolu Mountain. Families of young people murdered by the police during the Gezi protests and relatives of murdered women joined the march today.  

The march had taken a short break in the Kaynaşlı area in Düzce, and thousands of activists took the first break of the day after they passed the Bolu Mountain. Families of Ali Ismail Korkmaz, Ethem Sarısülük and Berkin Elvan who were murdered during the Gezi protests in 2013, families of murdered women and the Stop Femicides Platform joined the march today. Women held signs that read, “Justice for Women”.

The march started with a short speech from CHP Leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Kılıçdaroğlu said: “Today we are leaving the lands of [famous bard] Köroğlu. We salute him. We salute those like him,” and continued: “We are marching for them. We are marching for justice. We are marching together. Nobody should be bothered. We prepared a list of 12 articles against provocations. We will distribute it today. We want no violence, no attacks, no insults against those who protest us for one reason or the other. Whatever they say, we only want hand clapping. This shows our democratic stance, and our faith in justice. It shows how much we value justice and people.”

The activists face frequent provocations, and they are expected to cover 22 kilometers today.