Mehmet Aksoy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bonn deserter monument in Potsdam on the Unity Square

Mehmet Aksoy (* 1939 in Hatay , Turkey ) is a Turkish sculptor who lived and worked in Germany for a long time.

Aksoy studied sculpture in Turkey, England, Italy and Germany. From 1972 he lived in Berlin with short interruptions until the 1990s, where he a. a. founded and directed the Turkish academics and artists association. During this time, a comprehensive illustrated book about the life and work of Nazim Hikmet was created under his direction , which was published in two languages ​​in German and Turkish.

Aksoy created, among other things, the Bonn and Potsdam memorials for the unknown deserter and the “people in the city” area of ​​the human landscape of Berlin in 1989 for the Federal Republic of Germany .

Aksoy, who received art prizes in Germany and Turkey, a. a. the Sedat Simavi Prize for Fine Arts (1989), currently lives mainly in Turkey.

Most recently, the 35-meter-high and 1500-tonne sculpture İnsanlık Abidesi ( Monument to Humanity ) was created in the eastern Anatolian city of Kars, which calls for reconciliation between Armenians and Turks. Because the location of the monument is disputed for historical reasons, the construction work was interrupted and in 2011 Prime Minister Erdoğan demanded the demolition of the largely completed monument. The demolition of the artwork began on Erdoğan's order at the end of April 2011. The artist compared the action to the destruction of the Buddha statues in Bamiyan by the Taliban . A total of 2,000 people, including Aksoy and artists from Istanbul, protested on April 23 in Kars against the threatened demolition. The destruction of the sculpture met with fierce criticism inside and outside Turkey.

President Erdogan is said to have made derogatory comments on the monument to humanity, whereupon Aksoy successfully sued Erdogan for insult. He was awarded 10,000 TL by the court, but he did not take the money, on the grounds that he would never want to do art with dirty money. Turkish prosecutors used this as an opportunity to sue Mehmet Aksoy for insulting the president because they understood from his words that he viewed Erdogan's services as dirty. The lawsuit was dismissed.

Web links

Commons : Mehmet Aksoy  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Bonn deserter memorial - the artist Mehmet Aksoy
  2. ↑ "They are afraid of our songs.", Berlin 1977, 362 pp.
  3. ^ Debate in Turkey over Armenia friendship monument
  4. ^ Controversy over the Armenian-Turkish monument
  5. ↑ Das Erste, Retrospect: Dispute in Turkey ( Memento from February 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ With the wrecking ball against reconciliation , FAZ.net, accessed on April 25, 2011
  7. ↑ Dunning? Reconcile? Dynamite! In: Spiegel Online, April 23, 2011, accessed April 25, 2011.
  8. ↑ Peace statue sculptor faces jail for 'criticizing' Turkish president. Retrieved September 14, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Sculptor Faces Prison for Insulting Erdogan - News artnet . In: artnet News . June 25, 2015 ( artnet.com [accessed September 14, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Aksoy, Mehmet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish sculptor, lived in Berlin for a long time
DATE OF BIRTH 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Hatay , Turkey