İSTANBUL - Stating that she joined the Saturday Mothers because of the injustice they suffered, Hanife Yıldız, mother of Murat Yıldız who was forced into dissappearance, said: "They took my son alive and gave me back a bone."

 

Saturday Mothers came together in the 882nd week of the protest they started to ask the whereabouts of their relatives forced into disappeared under custody and to demand that the perpetrators should be found and punished. In the demonstration organised online on the social media, the whereabouts of 19-year-old Murat Yıldız, who disappeared in custody in İzmir on February 23, 1995, was asked.

 

Hanife Yıldız, the mother of Murat Yıldız, who spoke first, said, “I did not drop here from from the sky. I am here for a reason. I am here due to the injustice I suffered. They took my 19-year-old son alive and gave me back one of his bones." Addressing the public prosecutors, mother Yıldız said, “It is clear who dissappered my son by force. They took away my son's right to life and his right to a decent burial. This is not humane. They set up a police station in the middle of the Galatasaray Square just to stop our sit-in. If this pandemic ends, we will be here in this square. I will continue hold those responsible to account."

 

MOTHER JOINED THE SATURDAY MOTHERS

 

Murat Yıldız's cousin Ezgi Yıldız read the press statement on behalf of the crowd. Stating that "The right to life means people must be protected from unnatural deaths", Yıldız emphasized that the state is obligated to investigate every unnatural death. Yıldız stated that in the 882nd week, they shouted their demands for justice in the case of Murat Yıldız, where the law has not been applied for 27 years. Reminding that Murat Yıldız went to İzmir Bornova Özkanlar Public Security Branch with his mother and lawyer and surrendered to Commissioner Ramazan Kaya and police officer Tahir Şerbetçi, Ezgi Yıldız said, “There was no information about Murat again. Then, Hanife Yıldız came to Istanbul and joined the Saturday Mothers."

 

THE DUTY OF THE STATE

 

Stating that it is the duty of the state to ensure that those involved in crimes are held accountable in deaths or disappearances that occur under the responsibility of public officials, Yıldız emphasized that the material facts of the judicial process carried out in the case of Murat Yıldız's disappearance under custody was not revealed. Yıldız mentioned the court's decision and said: “The court's decision was made as a result of the violation of domestic and international law protecting the right to life. Therefore, the Constitutional Court should open the way for a retrial in order to eliminate the ongoing violation in the file.”