Schultze is now planning to hold photography exhibitions in Berlin and Hamburg, Akdag added.

The 70-year-old journalist told Akdag how he first traveled to Diyarbakir after an encounter with Armenian photographer Ara Guler:

"I met Ara Guler the first time in Bremen. When I saw his Istanbul photographs I decided that I should travel to Istanbul, and when I was later in Istanbul I realized that none of the places Guler photographed exists any longer. A friend in Istanbul told me that I should go and see Diyarbakir as well, and I had my first trip to the city in 2010. I was instantly enamored by Sur, and I started taking photos in its neighborhoods."

He continued: "Actually I discovered parts of Ara's world in Diyarbakir. I'm talking about a time when Sur wasn't destroyed yet (...) I visited Diyarbakir almost every year after 2010. I never imagined such disaster could befall the city. I'm a photographer and I wanted to document change. I should have taken much more photographs before 2015."

Noting that he was detained several times in the course of curfews, Schultze said: "The destruction here continues after the clashes. This is the main reasons why I keep on visiting the city. I continue to document before it is further destroyed. The police once told me after I was detained: 'This is an awful place. Why are you here instead of Antalya?' I was detained because of some interviews I made. They pushed me against the wall, but they were careful not to inflict any physical harm. They held Kalashnikovs and pushed me against the wall. They asked for information about the people I interviewed. I told them I would not share any such information."

Schultze told German media two years earlier, after he was detained at Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan and deported: "As a journalist, I work continuously on topics that I want to continue reporting on. Many cities in Kurdistan have been destroyed since 2015, and traditional forms of housing and cultural sites are also gradually disappearing. It's important to me to document as much as possible while it's still there."

In the winter of 2015, the district of Sur was one of the Kurdish-majority settlements in the southeast where Turkish troops moved in with tanks, helicopters and artillery to eliminate Kurdish activists who set up barricades and put up armed resistance against military's intervention. Sur, a historic place situated at the banks of the Tigris river and inside the Diyarbakır Fortress, was devastated in the process.

Over 70 Turkish troops and hundreds of Kurdish fighters were killed in clashes that went on for three months. At least 200 civilians were killed in areas placed under curfew, according to human rights groups.

The new houses built in Sur drew waves of protest over their architectural design that according to critics resembles prison compartments.

Gercek News