Ulucanlar Prison Museum Ankara

Ulucanlar Prison was opened in 1925 in Ankara, which had been declared the capital of the newly founded Republic of Turkey in 1923 and was envisioned as a symbolic representation of the new state. Looking into the history of Ulucanlar Prison, therefore, is almost synonymous with examining the political history of Turkey, as it has been a site where political prisoners were detained from the very first day it began operating. The significance of the place is further underscored by a 1987 excavation conducted for the construction of an additional storage building on a plot known to have served as a burial ground. During the excavation, a large number of human bones were unearthed (Özal, 2017).

When regarded as a reflection of Turkey’s modern history, it becomes difficult to list all those who were unjustly imprisoned, executed, or subjected to various human rights violations—especially torture—within Ulucanlar Prison. Some of the well-known names include the renowned poets Nazım Hikmet and Ahmed Arif; politicians such as Osman Bölükbaşı, former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, former Democracy Party (DEP) deputies Hatip Dicle, Leyla Zana, Mahmut Alınak, Orhan Doğan, Sırrı Sakık, and Selim Sadak; Sırrı Süreyya Önder, an MP from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM); journalists like Cüneyt Arcayürek; dissident filmmaker Yılmaz Güney; and revolutionaries Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan.

Ulucanlar Prison was also at the center of several key historical turning points in Turkey. After the military intervention of 12 March 1971, leading members of the People’s Liberation Army of Turkey—Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan, and Hüseyin İnan—were sentenced to death and executed in Ulucanlar on 6 May 1972. Following the 12 September 1980 military coup, high-school student Erdal Eren, who was legally underage for execution at the time, was brought to the prison. After his age was officially adjusted, he was executed on 18 December 1980.

One of the most severe rights violations in the history of Turkish prisons occurred at Ulucanlar on 26 September 1999, when a security-led operation resulted in the deaths of ten inmates. During this period, Turkey was transitioning from the ward-based prison system to the new cell-based F-Type Prisons, which generated widespread resistance, especially among political prisoners. The state responded with simultaneous operations in 20 prisons between 19–22 December 2000, known officially as the “Return to Life Operation,” but widely referred to by the media and public as the “December 19 Massacre” (Bayrampaşa–Istanbul). The Ulucanlar phase of this operation left ten inmates dead—killed by firearms or chemical agents—and hundreds severely injured. Ironically, this operation took place under the premiership of Bülent Ecevit, who himself had once been imprisoned in Ulucanlar. A parliamentary commission established in 2000 concluded that the inmates who lost their lives had been killed through gunfire or physical violence and emphasized the necessity of holding those responsible accountable.

With the gradual opening of new cell-type prisons in Ankara, inmates at Ulucanlar began to be transferred in 2006. Initially, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality envisioned turning the former prison into a shoe market. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Architects proposed transforming the site into a museum and conducted year-long consultations with various civil society organizations to outline what kind of museum it should be. However, in 2008, Altındağ Municipality announced that it would take full control of the museum process. As a result, when the Ulucanlar Prison Museum finally opened in July 2011, the institution that emerged differed significantly from the civilian-driven vision originally proposed.