The Saturday Mothers have gathered today for the 505th week at the Galatasaray Square to demand justice for the disappeared. This week, the families drew attention to the story of Nihat Aydoğan, who disappeared in 1994, and demanded clarification about what happened to him.

Nihat Aydoğan, father of 4, was detained in a house raid on 30 November 1994 and taken to the Mardin Gendarme Command.

The authorities said to his wife: “We released him. He has taken to the mountains, search for him there”. All applications about him remained fruitless. No news has been received about Nihat Aydoğan since then.

Aydoğan’s wife, Halime Aydoğan, who joins the protest every Saturday made a speech at today's demo, saying that; “Today is a hard day for me as I lost my husband twenty years ago. Today I didn’t want to come here in fact”.

Recalling that all her applications had proved fruitless, Aydoğan made a call to the government: “Find our disappeared and hand over their bones to us. I know that the PM will say: ‘It has not happened during my period’. I know that it hasn’t. But you represent the state and have access to all files. You know everything, except the whereabouts of the disappeared”.

Halime Aydoğan said that thousands of others were suffering from the same pain for their disappeared relatives, adding that they would not give up their actions until the bones of all the disappeared were handed over to them.

Aydoğan’s daughter, Necbir Aydoğan, who was 1 when her father disappeared, said: “I have never seen my father. I grew up missing him. No one had the right to do this to me. My mother and I will not leave here until my father’s bones are handed over to us”.

Samet Yakup, the son of another victim of disapperances, Yahya Yakup, also spoke, saying: “They tell us that it was long time ago so that we have to forget. No, we will never forget it”.

Muzaffer Yedigöl, brother of another disappeared, Nurettin Yedigöl, said: “We do not ask for your mercy, we demand the bones of our beloved ones”.

Ümit Tekay Dişçi read out this week’s statement mentioning all the civil and military authorities on duty during those days. Dişli demanded that the following names be put on trial:

Midyat Gendarme Commander Hilmi Kahraman, Midyat governor Mehmet Okur, Mardin Governor Ahmet Kayhan, the General Governor of the emergency rule region, Ünal Erkan, the head of MIT Sönmez Köksal, the head of General Police Department Mehmet Ağar, Interior Affairs Minister, Nahit Menteşe, Commander of Gendarme HQ Aydın İlter, the head of the army, İsmail Hakkı Karadayı, PM Tansu Çiller, President Süleyman Demirel, the secretary of the National Security Council, Doğan Beyazıt.

Dişli called on the state to take political responsibility against the crime of disappearances and said: “Accept the reality of the disappeared, create the conditions for the trial of those responsible for the disappearances and end this impunity.”

The action at the Galatasaray Square ended after the reading out of the statement.