Bozyel, who met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during an iftar dinner in Diyarbakır on Saturday night, said he had a very positive meeting with the prime minister. He said he shared his thoughts with him about transforming Diyarbakır Prison into a museum. Boyzel stated: “Hearing my firsthand experience as someone who was incarcerated and subject to inhuman treatment in that place made quite an impression on him. I received a very positive reaction.” Bozyel said the prime minister agreed to give consideration to the proposal to turn Diyarbakır Prison into a museum.
Bozyel said the Sept. 12 junta used Diyarbakır Prison as a testing ground to crush the democratic demands of the Kurdish people and the entire nation. “Diyarbakır Prison is not just any jailhouse. It is a very important place both in terms of the recent history of the Kurdish people and the inhumane face of the Sept. 12 regime,” he stated.
He said the agony and pain associated with the prison have remained alive in the memories of hundreds of thousands of victims and families. Boyzel pointed out that similar places, such as concentration camps in Germany and Poland, have been always turned into memorial museums.
“By confronting it and keeping memories about this place alive, we can create awareness against interventions against human dignity,” Boyzel said. He wants future generations to be able to learn about the sacrifices made for democratic gains through such mediums, otherwise “we will forget about the price we paid and not appreciate what we now have.”
Boyzel argued that suppressing the pain would cause further trauma and that the deep wounds in the soul caused by torture could only be healed by facing them and talking about them.
