Background
Hasan Ocak was a 30-year-old teacher in 1995, waiting to be appointed to a post and meanwhile running a tea stand in a business building in Beyazıt. He was known as a socialist. Tensions were high in Istanbul after the Gazi neighbourhood events of March 1995.
Ocak's family lived in Avcılar.
What happened
On the evening of 21 March 1995, Hasan Ocak was detained by police while on his way home to Avcılar. Officials of the time stated publicly that he was not in custody. However, two people held at Istanbul Police Headquarters said they had seen him there.
His mother, Emine Ocak, was beaten, detained and jailed as she searched for her son. On 26 March 1995, villagers saw a body in Bozhane village in Beykoz. Because no fingerprint match was found, it was buried in a cemetery for unidentified people.
Investigation and legal process
After a search of about 55 days, on 15 May 1995 the family and lawyers identified the body as Hasan's from Forensic Medicine records. Signs of torture and strangulation were reported.
Following this, on 27 May 1995, a first sit-in took place in Galatasaray Square that grew into the Saturday Mothers movement. Its rules were no slogans and no organisational banners, with the story of one person disappeared in custody told each week. No one has been convicted in the case.
Where it stands today
The Saturday Mothers also remember Hasan Ocak each year, for example demanding justice again in March 2025 at their 1043rd week. The family and lawyers oppose closing the file under the statute of limitations and argue the case should be treated as a crime against humanity. Hasan Ocak's story is the starting point of one of the longest-running civil resistances against enforced disappearance in Turkey.