50th Anniversary of the Republic Sculptures

The **50th Anniversary of the Republic Sculptures** are 20 sculptures that were made for Istanbul. They were made by Turkish sculptors as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The sculptures were put in different parks and squares in Istanbul around the year 1973. Many of them were damaged, destroyed, lost, or moved. Only some of them are still there.

It was not easy for Turkish sculptors to show their work in public spaces between 1950 and 1960. There were not many types of sculptures (other than monuments) in Turkey until 1973. In May 1972, a committee in charge of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic held a meeting at the headquarters of the Governor of Istanbul. They wanted to have 50 sculptures made to celebrate the anniversary. But, because they didn't have enough money, they reduced it to 20. The committee chose 20 artists to make these sculptures. On 13 September 1973, the committee approved sketches and photographs sent by the 20 artists. This was an important event in the history of Turkish sculpture. For the first time, sculptors were able to create sculptures that were not monuments for public spaces. This supported the idea of modern sculpture in Turkey. The results of the project were 20 sculptures put up in public spaces in Istanbul. These sculptures were made by well-known sculptors, and were in their original style.

Many of the sculptures were lost, damaged or removed. Some of them were damaged only a few days after they were put in their place. _Güzel İstanbul_ by Gürdal Duyar was thought by some traditional conservative people to be inappropriate. It was removed from Karaköy Square and eventually taken to Yıldız Park. _İşçi_ by Muzaffer Ertoran was attacked. No one knows what happened to _Mimar Sinan_ by Nusret Suman_._ _İkimiz_ by Namık Denizhan was removed because of damage. _Birlik_ by Mehmet Uyanık was destroyed by a water compressor in 1986. _Yükseliş_ by Bihrat Mavitran was destroyed to make more space for a road in 1984. _Yağmur_ by Ferit Özşen was damaged and then removed. Many of the sculptures were abstract art. The abstract sculptures that got lost are: the one by Füsun Onur that was removed when Bedrettin Dalan was the mayor in 1985, the one by Seyhun Topuz that collapsed due to "natural causes" in 1984, and the one by Tamer Başoğlu which disappeared in 1986. The sculptures made by Yavuz Görey and Metin Haseki were probably stolen by scrap dealers because they were made of valuable metal.

## Sculptures

|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Image|scope="col"|Name/Type|scope="col"|Sculptor|scope="col"|Location|Material|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes|scope="col" class="unsortable"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|_İşçi Heykeli_ ('Workers Statue')||data-sort-value="Tophane"|Tophane|Concrete|It was attacked and damaged for many years. It was eventually removed in 2016.||||||||
|_Güzel İstanbul_ ('Beautiful Istanbul')||data-sort-value="Karaköy Square"|Karaköy Square (10 March – 18 March 1974) Yıldız Park (3 May 1974 – present)|Concrete|It was placed on 10 March 1974. Some people thought it was inappropriate because it was a naked woman. They removed it from Karaköy, and damaged it while they were removing it. Later people put it in a park named the Yıldız Park. It was eventually placed properly in the park (standing up straight).||||||||
|_Yağmur_ ('Rain')||data-sort-value="Beşiktaş, Arnavutköy"|Arnavutköy Akıntı Burnu|Iron|It was removed in 1987 because the road next to the beach was made wider.||||||||
|data-sort-value="Negative Form"|Abstract: Negative Form||data-sort-value="Dolmabahçe"|Gümüşsuyu Park, Dolmabahçe|Copper|It was stolen on the same day or maybe after only 1 week.|||||||
|Abstract:_Yükseliş_ ('Ascension')||data-sort-value="Harbiye, Şişli"|in front of the Hilton Hotel in Harbiye|Aluminium|It was lost in 1979 during road construction that was happening next to it.||||||||
|_İkimiz_ ('The Two of Us')||data-sort-value="Taksim, Istanbul"|Taksim Gezi Park|Concrete|It was removed after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état. The sculptor who made it removed it himself after it got damaged. Some people think he removed it after a colonel told him to remove it. The colonel was the Mayor of Şişli at the time.||||||||
|Abstract||data-sort-value="Maçka, İstanbul"|Maçka|Concrete|It still stands in its original place, as of 4 April 2021.||||||||
|Abstract||data-sort-value="Bebek, Istanbul"|Bebek Park|Copper|It still stands in its original place, as of 4 March 2022.||||||||
|_Bahar_ ('Spring')||data-sort-value="Emirgan, Istanbul"|Emirgan Park|Concrete|It was first placed in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building. After that it was moved to a few different places. The last place that it was moved to was the Yellow Kiosk in Emirgan Park where it should be today.||||||||
|data-sort-value="Dayanışma"|Abstract: _Dayanışma_ ('Solidarity')||Fındıklı Park|Concrete|It stands in its original place, as of August 2019.||||||||
|data-sort-value="Yankı"|Abstract: _Yankı_ ('Echo')||Gümüşsuyu Park|Sheet metal|In 2012 the sculpture was renovated. It stands in its original place, as of April 2019.||||||||
|Abstract||Fındıklı Park|Aluminium|It was removed in 1985 when the Fındıklı Park was being re-organized.|||||||||
|Abstract||data-sort-value="Taşlık Park, Beşiktaş"|Taşlık Park, Beşiktaş|Bronze|It might have been stolen for its material. It disappeared around 1984, or it was destroyed in 1984 when a truck crashed into it.||||||||
|_Birlik_ ('Unity')||data-sort-value="Beşiktaş, Barbaros"|Barbaros Boulevard, Beşiktaş|Concrete|It was removed in 1986 by being broken with a compressor after the mayor of Beşiktaş said that it was "unnecessary" and "meaningless".||||||||
|_Mimar Sinan_ (Mimar Sinan)||data-sort-value="Saraçhane Park, Fatih"|Saraçhane Park, Fatih|Concrete|It got lost in 1980.||||||||
|Abstract||data-sort-value="4 Levent"|4. Levent|Iron|It collapsed by itself in 1984. A few years later it was completely removed during road construction.||||||||
|_Figür_ ('Figure')||data-sort-value="Harbiye, Şişli"|Orduevi Garden, Harbiye|Concrete|It was placed in front of the Muhsin Ertuğrul stage. It was later moved to the garden of the _Harbiye Orduevi_ when that got expanded. Finally it was moved to behind the _İstanbul Radyoevi_, where it still is today.||||||||
|data-sort-value="Bediha Muvahhit"|Abstract: _Bediha Muvahhit Anısına_ (In Honor of Bediha Muvahhit)||data-sort-value="Fatih"|Yenikapı, Fatih|Iron|It was stolen by scrap metal dealers or was removed in a different way in 1986|||||||
|data-sort-value="Tavus"|Abstract: _Tavus_ ('Peacock')||data-sort-value="Eminönü"|Gülhane Park, Eminönü|Iron|It was removed from Gülhane Park in 1984 by the Parks and Gardens Directorate.|||||||
|_Çıplak_ ('Nude')||data-sort-value="Eminönü"|Gülhane Park, Eminönü|Concrete|It was removed during renovation of the park.||||||||

## Recent events

In 2011, seven of the sculptures were cleaned and restored. This event was known as the "sculpture project". _Yankı_ by Hüseyin Anka Özkans was made to look new again, according to what was reported. As of September 2011, there was a plan to restore the _Abstract sculpture_ in Maçka, the _Bahar_ sculpture in Emirgan Park, the Republic 50 Years Monument in Galatasaray Square, the _Dayanışma_ sculpture in Fındıklı Park, the _Figür_ sculpture in front of the Muhsin Ertuğrul Theater, and the abstract sculpture at Bebek children's park.