As Turkey’s biggest protests in more than a decade continue, families of detained and arrested university students wait anxiously outside courthouses and prisons, unable to learn their children’s fate.
Musa Akyol, a 56-year-old dentist, stood outside an İstanbul prison on Saturday, desperate for news about his 21-year-old son Temmuz, who was arrested earlier in the week during a demonstration outside City Hall.
“We’re really anxious because we can’t get any news about our son. How is he? Is he well? What sort of conditions is he being held in?” Akyol told Agence France-Presse.
The protests erupted on March 19 following the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a key opposition figure, and have since led to the detention of nearly 2,000 people nationwide, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. Many of those detained are university students.
Lawyer Ferhat Güzel told AFP that at least 511 university students have been detained in İstanbul alone, with 275 put in pretrial detention. He said the actual number is likely higher, with reports coming from families, friends and scattered police data.
Most of the arrestees face charges of participating in unauthorized protests, which are banned in İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
Akyol said his son, a computer engineering student, was detained on Sunday night and formally arrested on Wednesday.
“The state’s power weighs heavily on our children,” he said. “All I see is young people who only dream of a better Turkey.”
The arrests come just ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which begins Sunday and brings a nine-day closure for public offices, prolonging uncertainty for many families.
Outside the Çağlayan courthouse in İstanbul, emotions were high as families waited to hear from their children. Some parents broke down in tears. Others clashed with courthouse staff in frustration.
Among them was Kerime Ural Cengiz, whose 20-year-old son Deniz was taken in a dawn raid on Wednesday.
“He’s never been detained before. He’s a kid who’s never been involved in any political events,” said his father Nuri.
“I’m hurting. I’m worried if he’s been hurt, if he’s starving,” his mother said. “What they’re doing to these young people is wrong.”
Outside the courthouse, students who had just been released sat on the steps threading their shoelaces back into their sneakers, which had been removed in custody. One 18-year-old showed red marks on his wrists from handcuffs put on him during his 5 a.m. arrest.
Ataberk, a 24-year-old law student, said he was taken from his student residence.
“I wanted to use my law training,” he said, “but it appears they won’t let us.”
After two days in custody, Deniz was finally released on Saturday — just in time to celebrate his birthday and Eid with his family.
“I didn’t want my son to have his birthday in prison,” his mother said, smiling. “Now we’ll celebrate Eid, but I’m thinking of all the families who will mark it without their children.”
© Agence France-Presse