Exhibition to commemorate murdered journalists, revolutionary leaders

Mesut Hasan Benli ANKARA

The bloodstained shirt of Abdi İpekçi is among the items that will be included at the exhibition’s opening on Sept. 12.

The personal belongings of former revolutionary leaders and assassinated journalists will be exhibited at a temporary “Shame Museum” organized by the Revolutionary 78ers Federation, an organization founded by members of a leftist youth movement.

The bloodstained shirt of Abdi İpekçi, the editor-in-chief of Daily Milliyet who was shot dead by ultra-nationalists Mehmet Ali Ağca and Oral Çelik, is among the items that will be included at the exhibition’s opening on Sept. 12, which will mark the anniversary of the 1980 coup. On May 13, 1981, Ağca attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City.

The belongings of another journalist, Metin Göktepe, the Evrensel journalist who was beaten to death by policemen in 1996, will also be displayed at the event.

For the first time, the private belongings of singer Ahmet Kaya will also be exhibited.

Other objects to be displayed include jumpers belonging to revolutionary leaders Mahir Çayan and Deniz Gezmiş.

Also, a “Laughing Women” exhibition in protest against Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s recent controversial statement claiming women should not laugh in public, as well as the belongings of 32 people killed during a prison uprising in the western province of Çanakkale in 2000, will be included in the program.