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Turkish painter stabbed in Istanbul after 'humanity monument' meeting

19 April 2011 [10:27] - TODAY.AZ
Prominent Turkish painter Bedri Baykam was wounded Monday in a broad-daylight stabbing in Istanbul as he was leaving a meeting on the controversial "Monument to Humanity" statue in the eastern province of Kars.

Video recordings made seconds after the stabbing and posted online show the painter, who was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital in downtown Istanbul, walking around and screaming for help.

Pyramid Art Gallery general coordinator Tuba Kurtulmuş was also stabbed during the incident. The assailant remains unknown, but Istanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın visited Baykam in the hospital and said police have all the information they need to solve the crime.

According to Çapkın, both Baykam and Kurtulmuş are in good condition.

Demolition began a day earlier to tear down the Monument to Humanity, a sculpture described as "freakish" by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in January.

The area where the monument currently stands was cleared Sunday in accordance with environmental procedures. The massive statue will be cut from top to bottom into large pieces and carried away using a 200-ton piece of machinery that is being brought to Kars from Istanbul.

"If [sculptor Mehmet Aksoy] wants to have the parts [of his monument] back, we can give them back," Kars Mayor Nevzat Bozkuş previously said, daily Radikal reported April 7.

Work to demolish the monument continued despite heavy rain in the area, according to reports.

Avçin İnşaat, a Turkish construction firm, won the tender held March 7 for the 272,000-Turkish Lira job to tear down the statue, erected in the border region with Armenia to symbolize Turkish-Armenian friendship.

During a visit to Kars earlier this year, the prime minister called the monument "freakish" and said it threatened to overshadow historical sites in the area such as the Seyyid Hasal El Harakani tomb and mosque. After Erdoğan called for the sculpture’s demolition, the municipal assembly in Kars passed a motion to tear down the monument, saying it had been illegally erected in a protected area.


/Hurriyet Daily News/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/84694.html

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