JINHA

ISTANBUL – The Saturday Mothers gathered again yesterday in Galatasaray Square, in downtown Istanbul, to demand to know the fates of those lost.

It was the 525th week of the action of the group of loved ones of the missing, who gather to demand justice and the trial of the perpetrators every week. This week, the Mothers mentioned the excavation of mass graves ongoing in the province of Dersim, in the eastern part of Turkey. The excavations have turned up the bones of family members of Dersim residents, who since the 1938 Turkish state massacre in the province have been seeking the fate of their family members.

"You turned this country into a cemetery of the nameless," said Hanife Yıldız,. "77 years have passed since the Dersim Massacre. But even if 77 more years pass, we'll confront you with your shame sooner or later."

The Mothers analyzed the upcoming June election in Turkey, noting that the mainstream Turkish parties are completely silent on the issue of reconciling with the violence of coups and dirty war tactics.

"We are hearing about election campaigns and promises," said Ali Ocak, of the group. "The ruling party and other pro-state mentality parties have no solution for our missing relatives. They are trying to protect the killers and perpetrators."

As every week, the Saturday Mothers called attention to one of the countless cases of missing people, demanding justice for the missing Zeki Altunbaş, who was lost in state custody on April 18, 1981, in the wake of Turkey's 1980 military coup. Zeki's family made a statement, noting that Zeki (who had been a student at Ankara University) struggled for human rights. The state insists that Zeki killed himself in state custody, allegedly by jumping out the tiny toilet window on the ferryboat on which he was being transported while handcuffed.

(nt/cm)