Mayors’ naked ambition to cover up nudes

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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In the southern resort town of Kemer, in Antalya province, Mayor Mustafa Gül held a ceremony Monday to re-unveil a statue called "Love Rain." 

The removal of the statue, which shows a nude couple dancing, as the first act by the newly elected mayor in early April was criticized by national media.

Gül, a member of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, at the time told the Anatolia news agency that everyone knew he was opposed to the statue and that he had previously submitted a letter to the local administration asking for its removal.

The statue, by sculptor Zafer Sarı, was erected in 2007 and was originally located between a mosque and a school, Gül noted. "During my election campaign, the first thing the people who lived here asked me was if I would remove this statue," he said. "We also did a survey of tourists on whether they liked it or not. Tourists asked for its removal, too."

When asked about Gül’s first act in office, sculptor Sarı said he would be filing a criminal complaint against the mayor. "I believe this is a second Melih Gökçek case," he said. "I don’t know what to say." When he was first elected in 1994, Ankara Mayor Gökçek removed a statue he deemed obscene. The sculpture was put back in the same place 11 years later.

Gül’s relocation of the statue came as a surprise because he told reporters at the time: "We will do nothing with it. The sculptor can take it if he has any ideas."

Speaking Monday, Gül said he hadn’t been opposed to the statue, but to its location. "I have been telling everyone since 2007 that the statue should be placed in Kuğulu Park, not where it used to stand, in the town square," he said.

"After its removal, they said I was an enemy of the arts. We have shown we stand by arts and artists by holding the ceremony with our artist friends."

Kars Mayor Nevzat Bozkuş, who was elected March 29 from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, removed three statues of female figures, one of them nude, reported the Doğan news agency.

Former Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoğlu, who was also from the AKP, but ran with the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, when he was not chosen by the ruling party, had originally erected 30 statues in various parts of the city. Two statues of female figures were put in front of the municipal building while a nude female form was set in front of historical Kars houses in the Yusufpaşa neighborhood.

The Doğan news agency reported that all three statues were removed a day before Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the region June 12 and taken to the municipal depots.

"During the election campaign, we realized that the public was not sympathetic toward the statues," Bozkuş said. "We had decided to remove them, but the timing was a bit unfortunate. Their removal coming a day before the prime minister’s visit was just a coincidence."

Bozkuş said the statues would be placed in a more appropriate location. "We did not remove them because they were nude. We will also assess the location of other statues," he said. "Claims that the prime minister’s bodyguards removed the statues are entirely false. We will relocate them to a place where they will not generate public annoyance." Alibeyoğlu who originally erected the statues said their removal was immoral."