Atatürk’s relief on 5 lira coins stirs controversy

ISTANBUL

The 5 Turkish Lira commemorative coins, which featured modern Türkiye founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with a high-crowned cap called kalpak, have caused controversy on social media and the public, with critics claiming a lack of resemblance to the leader.

A total of 100 million of these commemorative coins were minted and put into circulation on Oct. 29 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye.

Images shared on social media claimed that the relief on the coin did not resemble Atatürk. To address the claims, the General Directorate of Mint and Stamp Printing House stated the images had been "deliberately tampered with" in order to mislead the public.

In order to bring some clarity to the controversy, daily Hürriyet's Photo Editorial Office compared the images of the minted coins shared on social media with the photographs it had taken first-hand.

The comparison confirmed the directorate's claims that the social media images had been tampered with but also showed that the minted coin could have been more faithful to the original photograph of Atatürk.

The two deep lines running down Atatürk's left cheek to his chin in the relief shared on social media are not prominent in the minted coin or the original photograph. Additionally, the line on the left chin present in both the social media photos and minted coins is also striking. This is absent in the original photograph of Atatürk used on the coin.

Inconsistencies with the original photograph regarding Atatürk’s facial structure, cheekbones, and undereye bags are also visible in both the social media images and minted coins.