Memorial hurts feelings of Erdogan’s victims

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has asked Wiesbaden’s Mayor Sven Gerich to put an end to a controversial art campaign with a larger-than-life statue of the Turkish President, as it hurts the feelings of those who became victims of Erdogan’s human rights violations. “There are limits to the freedom of art, especially if it hurts the feelings of other people. The Turkish President has repeatedly ordered German citizens to be arrested – leaving the relatives waiting for their loved ones to return to Germany. The statue is a provocation. It might fuel the tensions between Erdogan-supporters and the relatives of the 55,000 people who are politically persecuted in Turkey. The campaign also violates the feelings of relatives of the victims of violent attacks by Turkey in Afrin and other regions of Syria,” the STP wrote in a letter to the mayor.

“Of course, art can provoke and lead to a public debate. However, the glorification of a totalitarian regime with a larger-than-life statue is questionable and scandalous, as the Turkish army is committing war crimes in occupied Afrin at the same time,” stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Tuesday. In order to avoid tensions between Erdogan’s supporters and opponents in Wiesbaden and all of Germany, this controversial art campaign should be stopped as soon as possible.”

During the night of August 28, 2018, artists from the Wiesbaden Biennale had erected a four-meter high steel and concrete statue of the Turkish President on the “Platz der deutschen Einheit“. The installation – which was not sufficiently registered at the Municipal public order office – is supposed to remain there until next Saturday. According to the city, the claimants had not explained who the statue should be of. They had only vaguely stated that it would be a person. “Thus, the city administration wasn’t able to check the admissibility of the proposed action. It was unclear that the statue might cause public controversy or even endanger public safety,” Delius emphasized. 

Headerpicture: ©Paul Morigi Photography via Flickr