Signboard With Photo Of 'Lady In Red' Put Up In Gezi-Themed Park In Antalya

A signboard including a photo of the Gezi protests' symbolic lady in red was put up in a park by Antalya's Muratpaşa Municipality after the local electricity distribution company, Akdeniz Elektrik Dağıtım A.Ş. (AKEDAŞ), earlier painted over one of its power distribution units bearing an illustration of the woman in the same park.

Mehmet Tosun, a member of the Muratpaşa Municipal Council from the Republican People's Party (CHP), told the private Doğan news agency on Thursday that they could not have built a Gezi-themed park without the symbolic lady in red. Highlighting that no one has the right to remove the signboard with the picture of the lady in red, Tosun said, “It is located on property belonging to the municipality.”

The lady in the red dress, Ceyda Sungur, achieved a certain level of fame after a photograph of her being sprayed with tear gas at close range while wearing a red dress during the Gezi Park protests appeared across the media.

The Gezi Park protests began in May 2013 as a peaceful demonstration against plans to bulldoze and develop Gezi Park in central İstanbul, but escalated into an unprecedented show of defiance against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government after police used tear gas and water cannons to try to clear the protesters from the area.

At least seven people, including a police officer, were killed in unrest that spread to cities across the country, tarnishing Turkey's image abroad and raising concern over Erdoğan's increasingly authoritarian style. Erdoğan blamed the unrest on a foreign-backed conspiracy.

Although the construction of the Gezi-themed park was completed, its official opening ceremony has not yet been held.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)