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German city takes down golden Erdogan statue after outcry
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Aug 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The German city of Wiesbaden
removed Wednesday a temporary statue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan set up in a town square by artists, after it sparked confrontations
between his supporters and opponents.
“In agreement with state police, Mayor Sven Gerich decided to have the
statue removed as security could no longer be guaranteed,” the city’s
government said on Twitter.
Firefighters arrived shortly after midnight with a crane to lift the four-
metre (13-feet) tall golden effigy of Erdogan from the central German Unity
Square, where it had been placed on Monday as part of Wiesbaden’s Biennale
art festival.
Organisers had hoped the statue would provoke public debate relevant to
this year’s theme of “bad news”.
Since a failed 2016 coup attempt in Ankara, Erdogan’s crackdown on
political opponents and journalists — including some German nationals — has
been closely followed in Germany, home to a sizeable Turkish minority.
The statue, which had been posed to point boldly into the distance, was
quickly defaced with insults like “Turkish Hitler”.
A “slightly aggressive atmosphere” developed, a police spokesman told the
DPA news agency, while city councillor Oliver Franz told the Wiesbadener
Kurier newspaper that verbal confrontations had escalated into scuffles and
“bladed weapons were spotted”.
“We put up the statue to discuss Erdogan,” Wiesbaden city theatre chief
Eric Laufenberg told DPA.
“In a democracy, we have to put up with all kinds of opinions”.
But Emil Saenze, a local representative of far-right, anti-immigrant party
Alternative for Germany (AfD) blamed the outcry on “stupidity” by the
organisers, who had “given a stage to a despot who spends his time
humiliating Germans”.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1440 hrs