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Latuff2 — Disappearances in Turkey 2
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Published: 2009-08-17 07:36:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 5643; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 44
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High resolution version for printing purposes: [link]For three years from 1995 to 1998 relatives of people who "disappeared" in police custody in Turkey held a weekly vigil in central Istanbul, demanding that the authorities account for the fate of their loved ones.
They were known as the Saturday Mothers, since they gathered every Saturday at midday holding pictures of their "disappeared" sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, brothers. Each time they met, a press announcement was read out detailing the case of one of the "disappeared", but otherwise the vigil was intended to be held in silence.
During the time that the vigils were held, the relatives encountered police harassment, ill-treatment, detention and prosecution.
Their plight attracted considerable attention in Turkey and internationally. Their courageous and determined stand helped turn back the wave of "disappearances" which reached a peak in 1994.
From May 1998, however, the Saturday Mothers faced heavy-handed police repression and were unable to continue their vigil.
(Source: Amnesty International)
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Comments: 9
We cant deny it . Sure it happnd in Turkey . But the situation is getting better.
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last day police killed a 21 years old person in Istanbul-Turkey by beating him on the street. this work is true, infact this is a daliy reality of Turkey.
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the situation is getting better but it is not really a "thing of past" either... and it won't be anyway until previous cases are fairly and justly investigated... luckily government is paying more attention to these kind of problems these days.
still even if disappearances are not common any more, human rights are commonly violated by police and armed forces... there are still debates of torture.
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same here. this problem is history, too
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I don't think it is like that now, Turkey is desperate to be part of Europe.
I love your work but feel this one is badly timed. I think there has been a great deal of reform in Turkey and this is history.
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