Istanbul Municipality’s art expo in Eyüpsultan attacked once again

Duvar English

An art exhibition held in Istanbul's Eyüpsultan district has been attacked once again. The exhibition called “Beginning from the Middle” (“Ortadan Başlamak” in Turkish) displays art works of country’s most prominent artists at the cultural center ArtIstanbul Feshane. 

Members of the Islamist group named “Union and Struggle in Idea Platform” (“Fikirde Birlik ve Mücadele Platformu” in Turkish) gathered in front of ArtIstanbul Feshane, a 19th-century military factory which recently opened after being restored by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) over the last four years.

The Islamist group’s head Kürşat Mican said that the art works at the exhibition included “insults against national and moral values.”

Mican said that they filed applications with the authorities for the cancellation of the exhibition. “Things exhibited here under the name of ‘culture and art’ definitely tempt people to deviance and are not even remotely close to our moral fabric and national culture,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Following the group’s statements, its members wanted to get inside the building by shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest) but were prevented by the police.  

The same Islamist group had attacked the exhibition, again two weeks ago. Mican had at the time also made threatening remarks and said, "We are warning (Istanbul Mayor) Ekrem (İmamoğlu), either he would remove this exhibition, or we would know how to remove this exhibition." After this attack, the exhibition was temporarily closed. 

Islamist group storms Istanbul Municipality’s exhibition ‘for praising LGBTI+ and socialism’Domestic