Diyarbakır Prison/Diyarbakır Cezaevi/Girtîgeha Amedê

Diyarbakır Prison (Turkish: Diyarbakır Cezaevi; Kurdish: Girtîgeha Amedê) is a prison located in Diyarbakır, a Kurdish-majority city of 1.8 million inhabitants in Turkey’s South-East, which has a complex history of resistance against the state. The prison was established in 1980 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 (Turkish: Sıkıyönetim Askeri Cezaevi). 

Diyarbakır Military Prison, in which the majority of prisoners and detainees were Kurdish, witnessed the most violent and persisting systematic torture techniques in the first half of the 1980s. Not only brutal repression but also Turkification practices were also implemented in the prison and more importantly, the number of incarcerated and tortured civilians who had nothing to do with political movements was also the highest in Diyarbakır Military Prison. According to the list of “The Most Notorious Prisons in the World” that was prepared by Time Magazine in 2008, Diyarbakır Military Prison was ranked as the fourth most notorious prison in the world. While it is hard to determine the actual number of people killed in that prison, according to official records, 34 prisoners lost their lives due to systematic tortures between 1980 and 1984. Hundreds of people were physically injured while almost all prisoners experienced psychological traumas.

Justice Commission to Research the Truth about Diyarbakır Prison was established in 2007 and this commission conducted in-depth interviews with 462 ex-prisoners, collected pieces of evidence and testimonies, organized conferences and symposiums and prepared reports based on the findings. In November 2010, the commission filed a criminal complaint against the perpetrators of human rights violations in Diyarbakır Military Prison. In 2015, a parliamentary investigation was opened into torture in Diyarbakır prison, but no official has yet been held accountable. Recently (2021,July 9) President Erdogan announced that Diyarbakir Prison would be evacuated and turned into a cultural center. The idea was criticized by human rights activists who wanted the prison to become a museum of human rights abuses (known as the "Museum of Shame”).