Failed Coup in Turkey: People for Democracy

Failed Coup in Turkey: People for Democracy

Opening ceremony of the multimedia exhibition Failed Coup in Turkey: People for Democracy, under the motto “Önemsiyoruz! We care! Stalo nam je!”, was held at IUS Gallery on Thursday October 20th at 12:00.

The exhibition is opened after three months emergency estate was declared upon the failed coup in Turkey. Timelines, information graphics, photography, videography, drawings, posters and audio clips are retelling the events of the night of the July 15th making a clear message about the monstrous violence over humanity which we are witnessing in media ever since the siege of Sarajevo 1992.

Hasan Topaloğlu, president of SEDEF Foundation, Prof. Dr. Tahsin Erkan Türe, IUS Rector, H. E. Cihad Erginay, ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Bosnia and Herzegovina, professors, students and media representatives attended the exhibition.

H. E. Cihad Erginay stated that exhibitions like these help in the understanding of the events from July 15th, which is to be considered as a crossroad for Turkey.

Rector of IUS,  Prof. Dr. Tahsin Erkan Türe, talked about the importance of art and education in expressing the truth and fighting evil and violence. “Great changes are only made by the brave. People can only understand the terrible aftermath of the failed coup and what happened on the night of July 15th, through the language of emotions that is present here today. This exhibition is one way of speaking the truth and fighting the evil. I congratulate artists on the courage to care about what happened in Turkey three months ago. To show us that we are all the same. It gives us hope that, as long as we care and show the world the truth, we together can make a difference.” – said Prof. Dr. Ture, declaring the exhibition open. 

Prof. dr. Mustafa Bal, Dean of FASS, said that the July 15th was an attack on all unifying values that the Turkish nation has constructed through time. “It was an attempt to destroy our peace – peace that we also guarantee for the neighbor countries. In this sense, it was an attempt to broaden the borders of the chaos prevalent for a very long time in the middle east. While I, together with my family, was experiencing this nightmarish event in Ankara, while we were made to suffer the sonic booms and explosions, the first thing that came to my mind was Sarajevo and what it must have suffered during the war. Today, we have gathered here, in Sarajevo, to commemorate the victory and the bravery of our Shaheeds who stood against the killer robots of one of the vilest and the most sinister terrorist organizations of our age – FETÖ. We are also here to celebrate Turkey’s protection of its democracy against the darkness of this terrorist organization.” – stated Dr. Bal, in his opening speech.

Author of the exhibition concept, Assoc. Prof. Dr.  Lejla Panjeta, inspired by the contemporary voyeurism of terror, explains the idea and motivation for this project: “Almost every day people are dying because of the ideological viewpoint differences. Humankind is capable of great things, but also capable to create great disasters. Violence is in our nature. To fight evil is every individuals responsibility. This exhibition commends and commemorates the great achievement of Turkish people on the night of July 15th, 2016, when living up to the responsibility of fighting for democracy and right to live prevented the major catastrophic outcome of military coup intended by FETO and their collaborators.  Killing unarmed people, blowing fire on innocent men and destroying urban landscape is not only uncivilized image that we follow on our screens. In the center of Europe, from 1992 to 1995, Sarajevo holds testimony to the brutal force of such violence against humankind with the outcome of over 200.000 killed. Barehanded Turks, prevented similar mayhem and fighting the violence, managed to preserve their own way of living and democracy. Because they were brave enough to care and overcome evil.“

Creative team of the exhibition is consisted of the authors and members of CREDU (Creative Education). CREDU is a group of academicians, authors and visual artists of  Department of Arts of IUS: Lejla Panjeta, Meliha Teparić, M. Furkan Hizir, Emir Hambo, Roman Sulejmanpašić, Merisa Bašić, M. Yasir Goz, Nadir Herić, Tanja Ćurić, Haris Heljo, Fatih Er i Celaleddin Karabul. These authors openly criticise the violence and expound the events in Turkey on the niht of July 15th 2016, with the clear message: “we have to care and cannot turn our heads away from violence!”

CREDU (Creative Education) is a group of authors, academicians and visual artists of Department of Arts. Professors and graduate students are working on projects in design and film with the mission of making the learning outcomes in film and visual arts studies easier, more comprehensible, less time consuming, simplified and visually appealing. Finding the new methods of visual memorizing mapping of the different topics in research on actualities, arts and film theory is the focus point for CREDU projects.

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