Deputy PM Arınç remembers ‘Saturday Mothers’ in abducted children case

ANKARA

Arınç compared the 'innocent' protest of the children’s mothers in Diyarbakır with the years-long demonstrations of the 'Saturday Mothers.' AA Photo

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister has paid homage to the “Saturday Mothers” while speaking about the demonstration by the mothers of children who have allegedly been abducted by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.

Arınç compared the “innocent” protest of the children’s mothers in Diyarbakır with the years-long demonstrations of the “Saturday Mothers,” who since 1995 have gathered every Saturday in front of Galatasaray High School in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. The latter group carries posters of their children who have disappeared at the hands of the state in recent decades, gathering outside the school at the center of Istanbul’s busiest pedestrianized street.

The deputy prime minister called on all politicians to lend support to the protesting families. “If we really believe in the resolution process, it will not be possible by forcefully taking the smallest children to the mountains and deceiving them. Inşallah [God willing], we will see that it will be possible to bring those in the mountains down to speak the language of politics and ideas,” Arınç said on May 29, as he attended a workshop on reporting in the Kurdish language hosted by the state-run Anadolu Agency.