Missing 1926 Atatürk portrait not found in ministry records

Umut Erdem - ANKARA

İbrahim Çallı’s missing Mustafa Kemal Atatürk painting remains lost.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has confirmed that a missing 1926 Atatürk portrait by master painter İbrahim Çallı does not appear in ministry inventory records, deepening the mystery surrounding the artwork’s disappearance from an Ankara prison.

New Party Izmir lawmaker Seda Kaya Ösen brought the painting’s fate to Parliament, asking whether its current location had been identified and whether an investigation had been launched into its disappearance.

The 140-by-140-centimeter portrait was reportedly kept at Ankara Semi-Open Prison following the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup. Painter Hasan Pekmezci previously said the work was officially registered in the facility’s inventory on Jan. 2, 1948, under inventory number 384 and valued at 50 Turkish Liras at the time.

Pekmezci said he encountered the painting in the early 1980s while helping prison authorities review photographs and artworks stored in a warehouse. He identified the signature as Çallı’s and said records confirmed the work’s 1926 date. He later sought permission to inspect the portrait again but said his request was rejected, while prison personnel were reportedly unaware of having seen it.

Ösen questioned whether the painting was indeed missing, whether its whereabouts had been established and, if not, whether an investigation had been initiated.

In his written response, Ersoy said the Ministry’s General Directorate of Fine Arts had examined inventory records covering its museums, collections and storage facilities. “No information or document was found indicating that the work had been registered” in those inventories, he said.

Ersoy added that because the portrait had never appeared in the General Directorate’s inventory records, there was no basis for opening an investigation.