News Center- Emine Ocak, mother of Hasan Ocak who was tortured to death in custody in 1995 and one of the Saturday's Mothers, has died at the age of 84, the Saturday Mothers announced in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday.

 

“We announce with great sorrow: We have lost Emine Ocak, the most powerful voice in our struggle for truth and justice, with her courage, persistence, and determination. Details regarding the funeral ceremony will be announced separately,” said the Saturday Mothers, a group that gathers every Saturday at Galatasaray Square in Istanbul to ask for clarification about their missing relatives.

Emine Ocak was transferred to a hospital after having a heart attack due to respiratory failure on June 20, 2025.

Emine Ocak was the mother of Hasan Ocak, who was tortured to death in 1995 and found dead in the Beykoz district of Istanbul. For 30 years, Emine Ocak had fought for justice and demanded the perpetrators of her son to stand trial.

Hasan Ocak disappeared on March 21, 1995. 10 days after her son’s disappearance, Emine Ocak attended the hearing in the trial against Akın Birdal, former president of the Human Rights Association, held at the State Security Court (DGM). At the hearing, Emine Ocak told Nusret Demiral, the prosecutor, “I have been looking for my son for 10 days. Find him.” Then, she was sentenced to one month in prison on charges of “disturbing the public order”. She was arrested and served her prison sentence in the Ulucanlar prison.

After being released from prison, she continued to struggle for justice. Although she learned the fate of her son by struggling, she passed away without seeing the punishment of the perpetrators.

‘I never lost my hope’

On August 30, 2019, International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Emine Ocak wrote a letter, saying, “I was in a void, the uncertainty of what happened to my son cut me to the bone. But I never gave up searching for my son. I never lost my hope of finding my son. My Hasan was not nameless but they buried him in the Cemetery of the Nameless so that no one could see the torture he had been subjected to. We took my Hasan from the Cemetery of the Nameless and buried him in our own cemetery. After that, we sat with the relatives of the disappeared and human rights defenders and decided to sit at Galatasaray Square quietly every Saturday so that no one would be disappeared in custody from then on. Other families who heard that we sat at Galatasaray Square started joining us and our number increased at the square. We have become brothers and sisters, we have become sons and daughters, and we have become friends. As our voice started to be heard, the losses decreased as well. Thanks to our struggle, more people have not disappeared in custody. We have become the guarantee of people's right to life. I lost Hasan but now I have many people like Hasan.”

On the 700th week of the sit-down protest of the Saturday Mothers in August 2018, police attacked them and Emine Ocak was forcibly detained although she was 83 years old.