Diyarbakır Prison


Diyarbakır Prison is a prison located in Diyarbakır, southeastern Turkey. It was established in 1980 as an E-type prison by the Ministry of Justice. After the September 12, 1980 Turkish coup d'état, the facility was transferred to military administration and became a Martial Law Military Prison. Control of the prison was returned to the Ministry of Justice on May 8, 1988.
The capacity of Diyarbakır E-type Prison is 744. However, the prison is sometimes overcrowded. When the Human Rights Commission in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey visited the prison in October 1996 it had a capacity of 650 and was accommodating 942 prisoners. Diyarbakır D-type prison, which is provided for political prisoners can hold 688 persons.
What has been called "the period of barbarity" or "the hell of Diyarbakır", refers to the early and mid-1980s where the prisoners in the newly built Diyarbakır Military Prison No. 5 were exposed to horrific acts of systematic torture. According to The Times, it is among the "ten most notorious jails in the world." Between 1981 and 1984, 34 prisoners lost their lives.
In August, 2009, plans were announced to convert the facility into a school. The idea was criticized by Kurdish activists who wanted the prison to become a museum of human rights abuses. Although construction on a larger prison outside of the city has already begun, no decision over what to do with the existing Diyarbakir prison has been made. Kurdish activists and politicians find their plans for a human rights museum, known as the "Museum of Shame," largely ignored by the state government. As of now, Diyarbakır is still a functioning prison.

History

In the 19th century, Diyarbakır prison was known throughout the Ottoman Empire as the home of harsh and feared sentences given to political prisoners.

Early 1980s

After the military coup of 12 September 1980, the generals abolished parliament, suspended the Constitution and banned all political parties and trade unions, and most other organizations. Tens of thousands of men and women were taken into custody. More than 30,000 were jailed in the first four months after the coup. During the following years, Amnesty International received thousands of allegations of torture including reports of over 100 deaths as a result of torture. Diyarbakır Prison became one of the most lasting symbols of the coup due to the reports of hundreds of prisoners being subjected to torture and execution.
Among Diyarbakır's better-known inmates are Democratic Society Party leader Ahmet Turk; former DTP deputies Nurettin Yılmaz, Celal Paydaş, and Mustafa Çakmak; former mayor Mehdi Zana; Kurdish writer and intellectual Orhan Miroğlu; and Kurdish poet Yılmaz Odabaşı. Bedii Tan, the father of Kurdish writer Altan Tan lost his life in this prison as a result of torture.

Tortures

Among the most common practices were: severe and systematic beating; pulling of hair; being stripped naked; being blindfolded and hosed; solitary confinement; guards' insults; constant and relentless surveillance and intimidation; death threats; the obligation to salute Captain Esat Oktay Yıldıran's dog, a German shepherd called "Jo", which was trained to bite the genitals of naked prisoners; sleep, sensory, water and food deprivation for extensive periods; falaka, "Palestinian hangings" ; stress positions or forcing prisoners to stand for long durations; excessive exercise in extreme temperatures; stretching, squeezing or crushing of limbs and genitals; piling of naked prisoners on top of each other; asphyxia and mock execution; electric shocks ; burning with cigarettes; extraction of nails and healthy teeth; sexual humiliation and assault; rectal examinations; forcing prisoners to beat/sexually humiliate/rape or urinate on each other; rape or threat of rape of prisoners, or relatives of prisoners in their presence by prison guards; violent forcing of truncheon rectally; baths in prison sewers."
Mehdi Zana, the former mayor of Diyarbakır, who spent eleven years in the prison, explains: "When a new prisoner arrived at the prison, Captain Esat met him at the entrance and then turned to a guard and said, 'Prepare him a bath; then take him to the dormitory.' This was a ritual. So almost twenty guards accompanied the prisoner. He received a good welcoming thrashing, and then he was dragged, unconscious, to the 'bath,' a bathtub full of shit in which they left him for a few hours." Businessman Selim Dindar said: "Before our detention we thought that torture was applied during interrogation and that the wards in prison were comfortable. But in Diyarbakır Prison we longed for the torture chambers of interrogation."
Among the large numbers of testimonies regarding that time only few have come from female prisoners staying in a separate ward. Nuran Çamlı Maraşlı is an example for it: "We were 75 women in a ward for 25 prisoners. As women we are not equal to men, but in Diyarbekir dungeon we were equal relating to torture, isolation, military drill etc. For years we did in prison what soldiers do in their barracks." Many books have been written on Diyarbakır Prison. Testimonies have also been published on the Internet and in the media. After the changes to the 1982 Constitution of Turkey in September 2010 hundreds of people who claim they were tortured at Diyarbakır Prison in the wake of the 1980 military coup have filed a series of criminal complaints at the local prosecutor's office to open a case against their abusers.

Deaths in Diyarbakır Prison

Following the military intervention of 1980 the number of people who died during interrogation or in prison increased As a result of the unsanitary conditions and torture in prisons, 299 people died while incarcerated. Fourteen died during hunger strikes, 16 were shot to death because they were supposedly trying to escape from prison and 43 people committed suicide. On 18 May 1982, four young prisoners, Mahmut Zengin, Eşref Anyık, Ferhat Kurtay and Necmi Öner, rolled up in newspapers and sprayed with paint and holding hands, burned themselves alive in protest and have since become important figures in Kurdish collective memory and in the martyrdom discourse of the PKK. Like any other militant organization in Turkey the PKK calls all members who lose their lives in armed combat, but also in prison a martyr.
Not all prisoners who died in Diyarbakır Prison between 1981 and 1984 belonged to the PKK. Bedii Tan was an employee of a company that had been blackmailed by the PKK. Necmettin Büyükkaya, born in 1943 had started his political career in the Turkish Workers' Party. In 1969 he became the leader of the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths. Later he joined the KDP in Turkey. Remzi Aytürk was affiliated to Rizgarî also known as Kurdistan Liberation Party. Yılmaz Demir was on trial for membership of "Freedom Road" later known as Socialist Party of Kurdistan. PSK not to be confused with the Revolutionary Party of Kurdistan, or even the PKK. İsmail Kıran and Orhan Keskin were alleged members of Devrimci Yol.
The prisoners that died in Diyarbakır Prison between 1981 and 1984 are:
NameSurnameDate of deathCause of death
AliErek1981-04-20hunger strike
AbdurrahmanÇeçen1981-04-27tortured
AliSarıbal1981-11-13tortured
İbişUral1981-12-27tortured
CemalKılıç1982-02-23tortured
ÖnderDemirok1982-03-08tortured
MazlumDoğan1982-03-21suicide in protest at torture
KenanÇiftçi1982-04-21tortured
MahmutZengin1982-05-17set himself on fire
EşrefAnyık1982-05-17set himself on fire
FerhatKutay1982-05-17set himself on fire
NecmiÖner1982-05-17set himself on fire
Mehmet AliEraslan1982-06-09beaten to death
BediiTan1982-07-14beaten to death
AzizÖzbay1982-08-23tortured
KemalPir1982-09-07hunger strike
M.HayriDurmuş1982-09-12hunger strike
AkifYılmaz1982-09-15hunger strike
AliÇiçek1982-09-17hunger strike
SeyithanSak1982-11-21beaten to death
AzizBüyükertaç1982-12-22tortured
RamazanYayan1983-01-13beaten to death
Mehmet EminAkpınar1983-01-25beaten to death
MedetÖzbadem1983-05-20beaten to death
İsmetKıran1983-11-01tortured
NecmettinBüyükkaya1984-01-23beaten to death
RemziAytürk1984-01-28suicide
CemalArat1984-03-02hunger strike
OrhanKeskin1984-03-05hunger strike
Halil IbrahimBaturalp1984-04-27beaten to death
MehmetKalkan1987-06-14died during interrogation
YılmazDemir1984-01-00suicide
HüseyinYüce1984-05-00beaten to death

Incident in 1996

On 24 September 1996 special team members, gendarmes and prison warders stormed Diyarbakır Prison killing 10 inmates and wounding 46 prisoners The prisoners Erhan Hakan Perişan, Cemal Çam, Hakkı Tekin, Ahmet Çelik, Edip Derikçe, Mehmet Nimet Çakmak, Rıdvan Bulut, Mehmet Kadri Gümüş, Kadri Demir and Mehmet Aslan were killed. There are conflicting reports as to what really happened on that day in Diyarbakır Prison. The press accounts have produced scenarios that accord with the government's version of events. Some say that there was an uprising in the prison. Others note that the inmates wanted to visit the women's section of the jail. The delegation concluded "that the authorities in the government had prior knowledge of this incident and in fact some of them took part in its implementation."
According to the Secretary of the Diyarbakır Medical Association, Dr. Necdet İpekyüz, the followings happened:

Investigation into the incident

The incident was investigated by different groups and the public prosecutor. The Parliamentary Human Rights Commission stressed that "30 soldiers and 38 police officers, who exceeded the limits of their authority, had caused deaths." An investigation was launched against the prisoners who were attacked, beaten and wounded in Diyarbakır Prison. In the investigation launched against 23 prisoners, who were wounded in the attack, upon the instruction by Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor İbrahim Akbaş, the prisoners were accused of "damaging the state property and mutiny." In the investigation against the soldiers and police officers on duty the prosecution office gave a decision of non-prosecution under the Law on Prosecution of Civil Servants. The prosecution office alleged that "the soldiers and police officers tried not to inflict suffering on the prisoners."
The Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, stating that the prisoners were beaten to death, applied to the Prime Ministry and Ministries of Justice and Interior, demanding that 29 soldiers and 38 police officers be prosecuted. Upon this, Diyarbakır Provincial administrative Board decided on the prosecution of the security officers. Diyarbakır Public Prosecution Office, in January 1997, launched a trial against 65 people, 35 of whom are police officers and 30 soldiers.
The number of defendants increased to 72 defendants, but did not conclude until 2006. After the case had been transferred to Diyarbakır Criminal Court No. 2 a verdict was reached in the 59th hearing in February 2006. The Court sentenced 62 defendants first to 18 years' imprisonment for responsibility into more than one death. For various reasons the sentences were reduced to six years' imprisonment and for good conduct to five years and three months' imprisonment. The other defendants were acquitted or dropped because of the statute of limitation.
The verdict was quashed by the Court of Cassation ruling that the defendants had to be given the opportunity to plead, on changed charges and had to be heard again. On 30 September 2009 Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court No. 3 went on hearing the case again.

Verdict of the European Court of Human Rights

On 20 May 2010 the European Court of Human Rights passed its verdict in the case of Perisan and Others v. Turkey The incident is described as:
The Court ruled:

Testimonies