Democracy and Freedom Island, also known as Yassıada is one of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara, to the southeast of Istanbul. The island was named Yassıada until 2013, when it was renamed “Democracy and Freedom Island” in order to remember the 1960 military coup, the first in the history of the republic.
In the past, the island was named Plati.
The island, which has an area of 183000 m², is officially a neighbourhood in the Adalar district of Istanbul Province, Turkey.
Yassıada was used by the Byzantines for sending prominent figures into exile. One such person was the Armenian Patriarch Narses who was first sent to this island before being imprisoned at Prinkipos in the 4th century AD. In the 11th century AD the Byzantines used the island for political prisoners. The remains of the 4 underground prison cells from this period can still be seen. The Byzantine Emperor Theofilos, built the Platea Monastery on the island. Patriarch Ignatios, who was exiled to the island in 860, had built a church. Tunnels under the church were used as a dungeon.
Yassıada was captured by the Latin Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.