In the context of this artwork, explore the Removal and public backlash of the Erection and removal.
On the night of 18 March 1974, nine days after its installation, Güzel İstanbul was removed from Yıldız Park. In a midnight "sledgehammer operation", the sculpture was broken off its plinth and damaged: its arm was broken off and its plinth motifs destroyed. It was removed from the park and placed on a pile of sand near the Kumkapı municipal construction aggregate site. The front page of the newspaper Milliyet showed a photograph of people posing on top of the empty plinth on the night the sculpture was removed, as well as the rubble resulting from the plinth's destruction. An article in the newspaper Sabah stated the goal of their campaign to have the sculpture removed had been accomplished and that the paper was the voice of the people concerning the matter. This was countered by articles in the newspapers Milliyet and Cumhuriyet, which described the sculpture's right to remain as a necessity for democracy.Some Turkish intellectuals reacted to the events. Burhan Felek criticized the removal, saying a sculpture should not be removed just because a minister does not like it, and that there is not a referendum of beliefs for every issue. Melih Cevdet Anday criticized the government for choosing what the people should and should not like. Hıfzı Veldet Velidedeoğlu stated dominance of the mentality that puts forward religious conservative traditions in the context of fine arts would regress Turkey to a desert of bigotry. Güzel İstanbul was also defended by cartoonists and caricaturists such as Erdoğan Bozok, Altan Erbulak, Nejat Uygur, Yalçın Çetin, Ferruh Doğan, and Nehar Tüblek, who published cartoons commenting on its removal. One of the cartoons represented those who would remove the sculpture as backwards and outdated, another criticized the politicization of art, and another criticized the censorious mindset; and others asked why fake issues were being fabricated in the news.Cartoonists and artists who opposed the removal considered protesting it by covering all sculptures in Istanbul in black cloth but they cancelled their protest. The removal from Karaköy Square was seen as an infringement of freedom of expression in art; in protest, the Association of Turkish Sculptors organized an exhibition around the theme of nudity to show that the creative will of artists would not be inhibited. Many sculptors participated in the show, including Füsun Onur, who made an assemblage titled Nü (Nude).The debate about Güzel İstanbul spread beyond Istanbul; provinces Manisa and Zonguldak offered to have Güzel İstanbul erected in their cities. Güzel İstanbul was one of 20 sculptures that were intentionally damaged or removed.
Zonguldak Turkey censorious Füsun Onur Yıldız Park construction aggregate Sabah Manisa Karaköy Square Nehar Tüblek Altan Erbulak voice of the people Milliyet freedom of expression Istanbul Burhan Felek Yalçın Çetin Melih Cevdet Anday Cumhuriyet Nejat Uygur Erdoğan Bozok Kumkapı