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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.^[2][3][4]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ece 2011.
2. ↑ Cite error: The named reference SanalMuze was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
3. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Cumhuriyet2009 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
4. ↑ Sönmez 2015.