The 45 protesters were prosecuted after their 700th peaceful vigil for their forcibly disappeared loved ones was banned and violently dispersed in 2018

This was a “prosecution that should have never seen the light of day, dragged on for years”- Dinushika Dissanayake

Reacting to the acquittal of 45 members of the Saturday Mothers, prosecuted after their 700th peaceful vigil for their forcibly disappeared loved ones was banned and violently dispersed in August 2018, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake said:

“Almost seven years after the Saturday Mothers’ 700th peaceful vigil was violently broken up by riot police, 45 people standing trial for participating in the vigil have finally been acquitted and their ordeal ended. A prosecution that should have never seen the light of day, dragged on for years.

“The authorities must draw the necessary conclusion from this long-awaited outcome: Saturday Mothers/People have the right to meet on Galatasaray Square every Saturday to demand justice for their disappeared loved ones. We call on the Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya to ensure that all ongoing restrictions on the Square are lifted immediately and permanently.

“For more than one thousand Saturdays since 1995, the Saturday Mothers and their supporters have become a powerful symbol of the importance of peaceful protest. We must defend this right even in the face of crackdown, violence, detention and prosecutions.”

Saturday Mothers

Members of the Saturday Mothers/People are relatives of victims of enforced disappearances during the 1980s and 1990s who have been holding a peaceful vigil every Saturday at the same spot since May 1995. The 700th vigil, on 25 August 2018, was subject to a ban by the Beyoğlu district governor on the spurious grounds that the authorities had not been notified 48 hours prior to the vigil.  

Police broke up the vigil using tear gas and water cannons and detained 46 people who were later released but indicted two years later in 2020 on the charge of “attending illegal meetings and marches without weapons and not dispersing despite warning.” The first hearing in the trial, initially of 46 people, took place in March 2021. In 2024, one of the 46 defendants was separated from the case because of their absence from the trial proceedings.