After the military coup of September 12, 1980 in Turkey and Kurdistan, thousands of Kurdish political activists were arrested and put in the Military Prison of Diyarbakir. Between 1980 and 1984, torture methods, much like those used by the Gestapo, were practised upon them. During the period mentioned, 57 prisoners were killed by means of torture and hundreds of others were seriously crippled.
These drawings, expressing the methods of torture used by the Turkish state officials, were done by Zülfükar Tak and smuggled out in secret. Zülfükar Tak was born in 1961 in Siverek/Urfa. In 1980, he was arrested and placed in the Military Prison of Diyarbakir. Convicted of being affiliated with the Kurdish liberation struggle, he was given a death sentence.