İstanbul art exhibition faces continued harassment by conservative groups

Photo: AA

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A group of individuals yesterday protested an art exhibition organized by the opposition-led İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality for allegedly promoting "deviant behavior."

Gathering outside the Artİstanbul Feshane exhibition center, the group read out a statement, claiming that the artworks displayed at the exhibition insulted national and spiritual values in what was the second similar protest in two weeks.

Also, some individuals vandalized a goat figure featured inthe exhibition last week, claiming that it was a "satanist symbol."

Photo: Tuğçe Yılmaz/bianet

The exhibition titled "Starting From the Middle" aims to shed light on the past 100 years of Turkey through a diverse collection of over 400 artworks.

During yesterday's demonstration, Kürşat Mican, president of the Unity and Struggle in Thought organization, spoke on behalf of the group, stating that their objections were rooted in cultural rather than political concerns.

"The things presented under the guise of culture and art in this exhibition clearly encourage deviant behavior and have no relevance or alignment with our spiritual and national culture. They contradict and clash with our values," he said.

Mican further revealed that they had lodged official complaints and urged the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to intervene in canceling the exhibition.

Subsequently, some members of the group attempted to breach the security barrier set up by the police in front of Artİstanbul Feshane, resulting in a brief scuffle when the police prevented their entry.

After the group retreated, some individuals approached the police officers and showed their support, stating, "We stand by you. Our protest is directed at those who organized the exhibition."

Artists to stage protest

Feyyaz Yaman, the curator of the exhibition, told bianet that they will hold a demonstration on Friday to condemn the attack.

Describing such harassment as moves to divide and marginalize people within the framework of the government's cultural policies, Yaman said, "We should respond to this confidently so that we don't fall into this game."

"We are indeed witnessing the rise of right-wing populist policies worldwide, but the policies here lean towards shifting that populist discourse towards violence. I believe that disrupting this game would render all these policies futile. We will go through this experience with all the artists, and the process is showing that.

"Primarily, I invite everyone to solidarity. Through this, we will start recovering from demoralization. Let's keep our morale high." (Mİ/VK)