Ghazi (Ataturk) Manor

There have been manor houses build for two different purposes in Diyarbakir. One of them is the vineyard manor houses, included within the vineyards, surrounding Diyarbakir once upon a time. These manor houses, where the vineyard owners had accommodated during grape harvesting season, had been built as two-floor, basalt braided, with plenty of windows for the most part.

The main manor houses of Diyarbakir are the ones, used for summer cottages, those have been within the gardens decorated with the roses, covered by many types of trees and love-in-idleness, along side of Tigris River. Although they reflect the common characteristics of Diyarbakir houses, they have an architectural plan that is open to outward completely, on the contrary to the inward-looking plan of the houses. The fact that there is no other building close thereby so that the privacy is protected and also the desire to benefit from the extremely beautiful nature, had caused an outward-oriented architecture to be developed. The houses, those have survived until today, belong to Aqqoyunlu Period, mostly. Sem’an Sons (Ghazi Manor) Manor, Erdebil (Ber da Pir) Manor, Koşdili Manor, Ağulu Dere Manor are the beautiful samples for the harmony of the nature and the man-made ones.

Ataturk Manor, The Manor, called also Ghazi or Seman Manor, had been constructed as a summer cottage for a sir during Aqqoyunlu Period at the beginnings of 16th century. When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had arrived to Diyarbakir in order to carry out his commission as the Commander of 16th Army Corps in 1917, the manor house had been rented from its owner and Ataturk had lived in this manor house for 11 months. Ataturk Manor had been renovated in 1981 owing to the 100th anniversary of Ataturk’s death, its garden and surrounding had been landscaped and it has taken its present shape.