Statue of three female figures attacked for third time in Turkey’s Ordu

ORDU

A public statue of three female figures exhibited outdoors in the Altınordu district of the Black Sea province of Ordu has been attacked for a third time, Doğan News Agency reported on June 6.

The statue was put up by the Ordu Municipality in 2006 but over time it was defaced with graffiti and in 2013 it had to be put into restoration for two months by the sculptor Özgür Özmen. 

At the end of 2016 the head of one of the figures was severed from its body in another attack, after which the municipality restored the figure again and placed it back in place. In another subsequent attack the legs of the sculpture were broken, after which security cameras were placed near the statue. 

In 2012, the statue was one of 12 statues exhibited in various parks and avenues throughout Ordu as part of the 2nd International Stone Statue Symposium. The Ordu Municipality later found that some of the statues, especially of women figures, had been defaced by members of the public with spray paint, including the writing: “Hey, decency!” 

Five statues of female figures were removed from public places in 2014. After the municipality had them cleaned up, it placed them in the garden of the Taşbaşı Cultural Center, where the second and third attacks occurred. 

The relocation of the five statues to the Taşbaşı Cultural Center had drawn reactions from some people at the time. 

“We planned to move five of these statues to another place, taking into account our society’s common perception, customs, manners, and moral sensitivity,” said Ordu Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Enver Yılmaz at the time.