JINHA

ISTANBUL - Saturday Mothers, gathering again this week in the 519th week of their quest for justice, demanded that the perpetrators of women lost and massacred under custody be found this week, the weekend of March 8, International Women's Day.

The Saturday Mothers, along with Human Rights Association (IHD), held their weekly sit-in at Galatasaray Square, in the central Taksim area of Istanbul. The mothers carried signs reading "we know the perpetrators, where are the disappeared?" and the photographs of people who were lost and sacrificed to unresolved murders. They demanded justice for the missing with red carnations in their hands.

Mother Hanife Yıldız, whose son Murat Yıldız was lost under custody, spoke at the sit-in. She commemorated the women lost under custody and woman prisoners. "Our pain is as new as it was 35 years ago," said Hanife. She also remembered KirazŞahin, the Saturday Mother who recently lost her life in the struggle against cancer before she could see the end of the 20-year struggle to find her husband.

Leyla Kaya, one of the Saturday Mothers, read the statement of the week. She stated, "We have risen up against the oppressions of the patriarchal system for years. We are remembering all the women lost and murdered under custody, which is one the most disturbing crimes of the state.

"All these massacred women denied the role enforced by male mentality. They were lost under custody because they were women's rights defenders, socialist, Kurdish and women." Kaya called on the state officials and asked them to release the fates of MakbuleÖkdem, AytenÖztürek, RıddaYavuz, HamideŞarlı, HatunIşık, YeterIşık, ElifIşık, GülizarSerin and her three-year-old daughter DilekSerin, LütfiyeKaçar, AyşenurŞimşek, HaticeŞimşek, FahriyeMordeniz, ZozanEren, NeslihanUsluand KoncaKuriş.

The Mothers will return to the square next week for their 520^th action.

(mt/fk/cm)