Dilek Gül

His mother Elmas Eren went to the police station in Gayrettepe however she was told, “There is no person named Hayrettin Eren here, he isn’t held here.” Thereupon, Elmas Eren returned to the Istanbul Karagümrük Police Station, she saw that the page on which Hayrettin Eren's name was written in the list was torn out of the list… But she never gave up looking for her son. She looked for her son in every police station but she was always told, “Hayrettin Eren wasn’t taken into custody”. But someone saw him in the police station in Gayrettepe… Some witnesses told her that Hayrettin had been subjected to severe torture for days. But she couldn’t prove that. She waited for days, months, and years…

On May 27, 1995, she joined the protests held by the Human Rights Association (IHD) by holding a carnation and her son’s picture. Elmas Eren sat silently at the Galatasaray Square to learn the fate of her son Hayrettin Eren, was disappeared in custody…

She got sick for 39 years, she lost her other loved ones but she didn’t give up looking for her son… She was also among the relatives of the disappeared who met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the then Prime Minister, in 2011. Eren told Erdoğan, “I settle for a single bone of my son. I want the grave of my son from you.”

But she couldn’t have a grave of her son. She passed away without finding her son. Saturday Mothers announced her death as follows; “We lost our comrade, who spent 39 years to find her son’s grave. We lost Elmas Eren, the mother of Hayrettin Eren, who was disappeared in custody in the 1980s.”

Elmas Eren died at the age of 90. She was sent off on an eternal journey by Saturday Mothers saying, “Now, the responsibility of Elmas Eren's struggle is on our shoulders.” On that day, they embraced her 39-year struggle once again.

Her daughter İkbal Eren, who sat with her mother at the Galatasaray Square many times, made a speech during the funeral, “My mother only cried when she was with those who mourned for their children at the Galatasaray Square. She never shed tears anywhere else. And this shows how she stood firm,” ikbal Eren said she would continue to sit at the square.

After the death of Elmas Eren, Saturday Mothers continue to ask the fate of their loved ones at the Galatasaray Square every Saturday. For a long time, they haven’t been allowed to sit there but they still continue their right cause.