Diyarbakir prison

Diyarbakır Prison (Turkish: Diyarbakır Cezaevi; Kurdish: Girtîgeha Amedê) is a prison located in Diyarbakır. 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.

What has been called “the period of barbarity” or “the hell of Diyarbakır”, refers to the early and mid-1980s (in particular the years between 1981 and 1984) 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.

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. Until the return of a democratic government in 1984, visits of civilians to prisoners, by family members as well as lawyers of the defense was prohibited. 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. At the time, it was not allowed to speak in another language than Turkish, a rule, which was also upheld during visits, and Kurds were thought to be turkified. Inmates were obliged to memorize the Turkish national anthem and other Turkish nationalist songs.

Tortures
The prison wards used terms usually employed for acts of diversion and cleanness such as disco, welcome, theatre or bathroom for the different styles of torture they practiced.

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 (beating of the soles of feet),
• “Palestinian hangings” (hanging by the arms);
• 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 (specifically electrodes attached to genitals);
• 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 (referred to as “the disco” by the guards).