FROM SOURCE:

Diyarbakir's history, when read via production and trade, presents an abundance of materials worthy of its past. The city's geographical structure and the diversity of climate it creates, meant that there was always a broad spectrum of products. Diyarbakir stands at a crossroads of trade routes in the region, and once it became part of the Ottoman Empire, it also served as a customs gate, thus further increasing the significance of the city.

To extend this historical debate to the present day means that we must discuss not only wars, regional and global change and famine, but also land reform that failed to materialize, policies that condemned the region to economic underdevelopment and the grave outcome of the combination of neoliberalism with such policies. Historian Dr. Uğur Bayraktar laid out the framework for Diyarbakir's Memory. We will then take a closer look via the history of wheat, silk, copper, grape, animal husbandry and jewellery.