50th Anniversary of the Republic Sculptures
Many of the sculptures were lost, damaged or removed. Some of them were damaged only a few days after they were put in their place. Güzel İstanbul by Gürdal Duyar was thought by some traditional conservative people to be inappropriate. It was removed from Karaköy Square and eventually taken to Yıldız Park. İşçi by Muzaffer Ertoran was attacked. No one knows what happened to Mimar Sinan by Nusret Suman. İkimiz by Namık Denizhan was removed because of damage. Birlik by Mehmet Uyanık was destroyed by a water compressor in 1986. Yükseliş by Bihrat Mavitran was destroyed to make more space for a road in 1984. Yağmur by Ferit Özşen was damaged and then removed. Many of the sculptures were abstract art. The abstract sculptures that got lost are: the one by Füsun Onur that was removed when Bedrettin Dalan was the mayor in 1985, the one by Seyhun Topuz that collapsed due to "natural causes" in 1984, and the one by Tamer Başoğlu which disappeared in 1986. The sculptures made by Yavuz Görey and Metin Haseki were probably stolen by scrap dealers because they were made of valuable metal.