While some argue that closing down the prison would mean covering up the atrocities of the junta regime, others disagree, suggesting it should be turned into a human rights park and that a monument should be constructed for the victims.Sabah’s Emre Aköz is among the opponents of the closure of Diyarbakır Prison as he believes that doing such a thing would mean ignoring all the pain suffered by the inmates and their families. He says there is also some contention about who gets to make the final decision about the fate of the facility. “Will politicians from Ankara or İstanbul make such a decision, or the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, or the families of those who died in that hell, or the survivors themselves?” asks Aköz. His own proposal for the fate of the prison is that architect Korhan Gümüş, an expert in civilian initiatives and with whom it is easy to have a dialogue, should be authorized to go to Diyarbakır and consult with all concerned parties -- from the government to the tortured inmates -- with the aim of formulating a project that will be acceptable to all. “But nobody should make a U-turn after the emergence of such a project,” says Aköz.
Star’s Ergun Babahan welcomes government plans to close down Diyarbakır Prison; however, he does not find a mere closure sufficient. He suggests that the site of the prison should be turned into a giant human rights park and that a monument should be erected following an international competition, with the names of all those who were incarcerated there and were tortured there should to be recorded on one of the walls of the monument. When it comes to proposals for a school to be constructed on the site of the prison, Babahan finds this objectionable and says such a move would be akin to building a university for Jews at Auschwitz.
Another Sabah columnist, Sevilay Yükselir, also opposes the closure of Diyarbakır Prison because she believes such a move would mean covering up the shame of humanity. “It would serve the interests of the torturers of Sept. 12. Diyarbakır Prison should certainly stand as is, and the atrocities committed there should not be forgotten,” she said.
