2026-08-03
28 分钟This is The Guardian.
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This process has turned into a form of torture inside
the trial of Erdogan's challenger by Kaya Genç, read by Filip Isak Arditti.
This piece first appeared in the dial.
There's a Turkish saying, Silivri soğuktur.
Silivri is cold.
You'll hear it from journalists, politicians
and activists after they say something critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.
The kind of comments that could send them to the notorious prison complex in Silivri,
where it would take months before they saw a judge.
For decades, Silivri was considered a saifiyeiri, a place for cottages, country and summer houses.
All around the complex are small family-run farms and villas with private pools, protected by watchdogs.
Construction of the Marmara prison complex began in 2005 and lasted three years.
It contains eight closed correctional institutions and an open prison where the court is located.
It is Europe's largest prison complex.
Ekrem İmamoğlu, the former mayor of Istanbul, is now Silivri's most famous resident.
He was detained on 19 March 2025, went on trial on 9 March 2026,