The Saturday Mothers

Following a recent visit to Istanbul, Ali Has writes:

The Saturday Mothers (Cumartesi Anneleri) is a group who gathers 12pm every Saturday for half an hour at Galatasaray (district), Istanbul (Turkey), holding photographs of their “lost” loved ones. Mainly composed of mothers of victims, and renowned as a model of civil disobedience, they combine silent sit-in with communal vigil as their method of protest against the forced disappearances and political murders in Turkey during the military coup-era of 1980s and the state of emergency rule of the 1990s. In September 2018, they held their 700th sit-in protest, which was violently disrupted and has not been allowed since. But decide to disrupt and ban this peaceful protest now? It would appear that with the addition of former Turkish prime minister Tansu Ciller during the 1993-1996 and the then chief of police for Turkey Mehmet Agir in the current political arena alongside the ruling government that the banning of this protest is a gesture of good will or a “wink of the eye” aimed at appeasing them. Indeed, it is largely believed that it was at the direct orders of the two said actors or on their watch that most of the disappearances were ordered and occurred.  Continue reading “The Saturday Mothers”

3rd International Law Symposium this weekend in Istanbul

On 28-29 September, the 3rd International Law Symposium will be held in the Küçükarmutlu area of Istanbul. This year’s theme is uprisings, and ‘being a revolutionary lawyers in the struggle for bread, justice and freedom’. Download a copy of the flyer here.

“LAWYERS ARE CONGREGATING TO TALK ABOUT JUSTICE

Lawyers are coming together for the third time.

Which lawyers? Lawyers of workers, of ghettos, of favelas and barrios, of serves without any land to their name, of students without any financial aids, of women who were attacked and violated, of natives, of massacred revolutionists, of patriots, of those in captivity, of the poor, the ignored and those who are held in disregard and
those who are being tried to erased out of existence in masses.

Lawyers of billions, who – had they gotten together themselves, instead those who speak for them – could decimate their common enemies.

Continue reading “3rd International Law Symposium this weekend in Istanbul”