Message from Can Atalay to the Saturday Mothers: 'We will win together by struggling'

Lawyer Can Atalay, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gezi Park trial and whose parliamentary seat was revoked despite being elected as a TİP deputy for Hatay, supported the Saturday Mothers, who gathered for the 1000th time this week at Galatasaray Square.

Sharing a post on his social media account, Can Atalay also referenced the words of former Prime Minister Tansu Çiller, whose name is associated with unsolved murders, which she used at her party DYP's 1996 group meeting following the Susurluk scandal: "Those who fire bullets and those who are hit by bullets for the sake of this nation, this country, and the state are always remembered with respect by us."

The full text of Atalay's statement:

"Hello dear friends. Hello to the tireless mothers, children, and families. Hello to the selfless people of solidarity...

In the mid-90s; while news of disappearances in custody was coming one after another, and while the bloody history of the counter-guerrilla was being attempted to be whitewashed by the Prime Minister of the period saying 'those who fire bullets and those who are hit,' a handful of people went out to Galatasaray Square with the photographs of those who were being made to disappear and forgotten...

Hasan Ocak's mother and father were dragged on the ground for weeks, but they brought the disappearances to the country's agenda; even though they could not find justice, they found Hasan Ocak's grave...

From İsmail Bahçeci to Rıdvan Karakoç, the news of 'disappearances' was endless. In the face of that handful of people who went out to Galatasaray and did not bow down, 'the losers lost...'

Look at the photographs in their hands; there are photographs of our countless disappeared, starting from the first disappearance in custody we know of, tobacco worker Salih Bozışık...

And a world stands tall thanks to them, those who resist regardless of summer or winter, pressure or oppression, those who do not accept it...

The losers will lose, let us be sure of that.

We will struggle together and we will win together."

Merhaba değerli dostlar,

Merhaba yılmak bilmeyen anneler, çocuklar, aileler.

Merhaba dayanışmanın fedakâr insanları,

90’ların ortasında; gözaltında kayıp haberleri ardı ardına gelirken, kontrgerillanın kanlı tarihi dönemin Başbakanınca “kurşun atan da yiyen de” diyerek… pic.twitter.com/DcuN8a2Rde

— can atalay (@CanAtalay1) May 25, 2024