23.5 conversation series continues with 'Destroyed Statues, Controversial Monuments' conversation with the participation of artist, human rights defender, author of the book 'Atatürk Statues: Cult, Aesthetics, Politics' Aylin Tekiner and journalist-author Belma Akçura, author of the book 'Remove That Statue From Here'.

World history is full of statues and monuments that have created social controversy and that were demolished, removed, censored, and displaced. Following the murder of George Floyd by the police, the ongoing debates on the statues honoring the memory of the confederate leaders and slave traders in the United States gained momentum and we have been bearing witness to the demolishment, acts of vandalism, and  the removal of some of them by official orders while also observing that how some of the monuments have started to function as a space for activism

On the other hand, in Turkey, there are many statues and monuments that have created controversy at the social level, that have been removed, taken into exile, dismantled, targeted by hatred, and that have been censored. In the conversation to be held on Thursday, June 24, at 6:30 PM (GMT+3), we will address what the statues and monuments tell us, the relationship of the society of Turkey with statues and monuments, what kind of social and political reading we can make when we look at the history of statues that were dismantled and demolished, while also talking about what awaits us on a global scale regarding the statues that disturb our conscience. 

The conversation* will be held on the Zoom platform. The event will be live-streamed on the  Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channels of the Foundation only in Turkish.

You can fill out the form below to take an active part in the conversation and to raise your questions.

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*The event will only be held in Turkish.

Aylin Tekiner: Artist, writer, and human rights defender, she continues to work on the concepts of memory and justice in particular for social traumas. She completed her Ph.D. in 2008 at Ankara University, Institute of Educational Sciences, Department of Cultural Foundations of Education. Her book titled “Atatürk Statues: Cult, Aesthetics, Politics”, which she prepared based on her doctoral thesis was published by İletişim Yayınları in 2010-2014-2021. She studied shadow theater techniques at Yale University Theater Department, where she continued her post-doc studies between 2015-2016. Having held solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in her country and abroad, Aylin is the co-director of Research Institute on Turkey, a New York-based research institute. She is a member of the Social Memory Platform, which was formed by the gathering of 28 families who were victims of political murder in Turkey, a member of the Columbia University Social Differences Research Center, and also a member of the "Çocuklarız Bir Aradayız" initiative, which carries out collective memory studies for the 1980 coup.

Belma Akçura: As a journalist-writer, she started her twenty-five-year career as a reporter for various magazines. She worked as a television program editor at Kanal E and as an editor at Radikal newspaper. She opened up the current issues to the discussion in the column titled "Four Angles" in Star. She made interviews, serials, and special news in the Milliyet newspaper that brought her numerous awards in the field of human rights. She still works as an ombudsman in Milliyet newspaper. Akçura, who also gave seminars on "Practical Research Methods in Journalism" at the Journalism School of the Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation, worked with the Polish TVN team for two years on the documentary about İpekçi's assassination and the shooting of Pope in Italy by Ağca. She turned this work into a book. She took part as a speaker in both professional institutions and various universities' conferences and panels on the ethics of the profession and investigative journalism. Akçura, who has been the coordinator of the Ethics Committee established by the Journalists Association of Turkey under the chairmanship of Altan Öymen, is also a member of the Human Rights Advisory Board formed under the chairmanship of İoanna Kuçuradi.