Municipality Paints Rainbow Stairs Grey

The rainbow stairs linking Fındıklı and Cihangir neighborhoods in Istanbul has been painted grey by municipality workers this morning. The stairs were initially painted with the colors of rainbow by forest high architect Hüseyin Çetinel and his assistant Volkan Tecimeroğlu. 

Inspired by the colors of sun reflection as he was diving, Çetinel painted his neighborhood’s stair on Monday. 

The stairs, now painted grey, attracted several onlookers who took and shared photos.  

No symbols, only colors 

“There were rumors about an intervention yesterday. But we didn’t believe that it could be true,” said Volkan Tecimeroğlu. 

“When we woke up this morning, we were surprised. Everybody was so happy with our action. Even we weren’t expecting this.”

“It already became a part of people. Hundreds of people are snapping photos here. We have even received brides here. I can say that people were delighted to see some color amid all the grey here. It was a beautiful thing. We weren’t expecting this, so we are deeply upset. There are no symbols here, only colors. Dream suddenly turned into tragedy. I am so upset. Hüseyin Çetinel said his only aim was to embellish the surroundings. He previously submitted a request to the municipality on the stairs. He acted on his own since nobody responded him. This is the result.” 

“We haven’t received a single negative comment for the past 3-4 days. Everybody was happy, I believe the municipality would be happy too. However, it turned out the opposite. I am very curious on who did this. People say that it was painted around 7:30 am this morning. I don’t want to believe that Beyoğlu major is behind this. I would like to believe that he might have done this to replace with something better. We looked at the rainbow last night, we woke up with grey this morning.”

“They paint it grey, we paint it back” 

Özay Baş, a friend of Tecimeroğlu who witnessed the rainbow painting, said the following: 

“Painting those stairs had no political or profit agenda. The intention, work, and result are obvious. Everything is obvious. It is so upsetting to seek a hidden agenda behind this. There was no intention to make a commercial here. It was only about adding color to the street. I don’t think this is a crime. On the contrary, it is a service. What can be bad about this?”

“Two Asian tourist were speaking to each other. They stopped as they saw the stairs. They were surprised as well. They were going to head towards the stairs but then hesitated. Last night around 10:30 pm, a newly wed couple came and had a photo here. They weren’t the only ones. Then we were informed by a furious woman that it was painted grey. I think people will react to this. They paint it grey, we paint it back.” (BK/MA/NV/BM)