Man who spray-painted Atatürk statue detained in Turkey’s Eskişehir

ESKİŞEHİR

A 50-year-old man who spray-painted a statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, on Aug. 26 in the western province of Eskişehir was detained on the same day.

The man known by the name Osman M., was reported to have spray-painted a green cross on the base of the bronze Atatürk statue standing in front of Eskişehir’s Tepebaşı District Municipality building at around 3:20 p.m. But once the private security personnel realized the suspect’s doing, they called the police, who detained the man at the scene of the incident. Osman M. was then taken to the district police station.

The Eskişehir Security Directorate released a statement on the same day regarding the issue saying an investigation was launched into Osman M. by the Eskişehir Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The 2.5 meters long statue shows Atatürk with a walking stick in one hand and fedora in the other hand. 

“I don’t leave any verse, dogma, or stereotyped rules as moral inheritance. My moral inheritance is science and reason,” read an inscription of a quote by Atatürk at the base of the statue.

The statue was made by Prof. Rahmi Atay, an academic at Eskişehir Anadolu University’s Department of Fine Arts. It was inaugurated just a day prior to the attack on Aug. 25, with the participation of Tepebaşı Mayor Ahmet Ataç, from the Republican People’s Party (CHP).