Diyarbakır Prison handed over to provincial museum directorate

DİYARBAKIR

Long associated with cruelty, torture, and inhumane acts after the Sept. 12, 1980, coup d’état, Diyarbakır Prison in southeastern Türkiye has been transferred to the Diyarbakır Museum Directorate of the Culture and Tourism Ministry to serve as a museum.

The prison, which will serve as the Memorial and Ethnography Museum, was transferred to the provincial museum directorate by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums.

While the decision of the board was taken for the demolition of some of the structures inside the campus of the prison, some of them will be strengthened.

The structure, comprising five blocks, a total area of 49,204 square meters and an indoor area of 16,462 square meters, will have two entrance doors after the completion of necessary works.

The protocol regarding the transfer of the prison from the Justice Ministry to the Culture and Tourism Ministry was earlier signed between the two ministries.

In October 2022, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ handed over a symbolic key of the prison to Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.