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arts jury was decided by a ministerial decision since the jury was composed of
representatives of ministries of Culture and Development and Housing, four
departments of State Fine Arts Academy, a related University, Faculty of Istanbul
Technical University, a related administrative office, a related outside representative of
administration and Chamber of Architects.
3
In January 1977 with a common meeting of Senate and National Assembly
Presidencies Council, it was decided that a single monument for Atatürk in the garden of
the Grand National Assembly should be placed and a piece of verse should be added as
in Taksim monument existed. Finally a national competition was decided to be launched
in May 1978 for the first President of the Grand National Assembly, Statesman and the
founder of the State, for Atatürk at the exact place where the jury announced as in front
of the entrance hall in the courtyard of Hall of Honour. However the Assembly
Foundation, a new agent in the history of the Grand National Assembly founded in
February 1978 during the Assembly Presidency of Cahit Karakaş launched a two
stepped competition for the Atatürk Monument in November 1978, while Behruz Çinici
was the member of the Foundation’s executive board. The advisory board was
composed of Cahit Karakaş (President) and Behruz Çinici (architect). The jury members
were composed of Zerrin Bölükbaşı (sculptor), Vedat Dalokay (Architect, ITU), Turan
Erol (Painter, DGSA), Sadun Ersin (Interior Architect, DGSA), Orhan Özgüner (Architect,
DGSA) and İsmail Tunalı (Art Critic). Deputy members were announced as Süha Özkan
(Architect, METU) and Muzaffer Ertoran (Sculptor, DGSA).
Just a year before the 1980 intervention, there were many conflicts between the
state institutions and civil organizations. Chamber of Architects criticized the method of
jury selection and the handling of the competition so that Cansen Sönmez and Vedat
Dalokay resigned from the jury memberships with the call of the Chamber of Architects.
However all criticism was not for the competition, it was also for the attainment of the
projects via invited competitions such as for the Public Relations Building of the Grand
National Assembly. The Senate had already announced a competition for the Senate
Building in 1979. In the stressful atmosphere there was another event approaching, the
intervention of 1980 approaching. The competition for the Atatürk monument was
handled in two stages in 1979 and 1980. Holzmeister was also invited to the jury.
According to Behruz Çinici, because of his age, Holzmeister could not attend the jury
meetings. However, the photographs of the works submitted were sent to Holzmeister,
residing in Austria at the time. Çinici explained that Holzmeister determined the place
of the monument, and sent his ideas with some sketches to the jury. In these sketches he
had drawn an amphitheater for 5000 people and a people’s forum of 20 x 20 meters
3
The jury members were determined as Gürdal Duyar (Sculpture), Devrim Erbil (Painting), Sadi Diren (Seramik),
Emin Barın (Calligraphy), Ziya Payzın (architect), Doğan Kuban (architect and Dean of the Faculty, ITU), Nezih
Eldem (architect and profesör), Sadun Ersin (architect and profesör), Orhan Akyürek (İnterior architect)
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facing the protocol entrance of the building. Holzmeister in his letter stated that “this
place becomes the symbol of a free nation. I feel that I am fulfilling another
responsibility on behalf of Atatürk’s memory” (Çinici 1995). He had always a vision of
the free people of a new nation walking to the parliament via open spaces between the
governmental buildings to come together in a people’s forum or a square. Holzmeister
in an interview realized with Nazmi Kal and published by Balamir, states that he sent
the proposals and the site selection to the jury as a jury member. In that interview he
states that some architects were eager to change the architecture and layout of the
parliament though it was already determined where to build the Atatürk monument in
his layouts. According to that people should not stand behind the Atatürk monument.
On the contrary the monument should be surrounded by people (Balamir 2002: 18).
The competition program demanded a monument structure that should be solved with
the physical environment enabling public ceremonies around the monument. According
to Hüseyin Gezer, Holzmeister was effective in the placement of the monument not in
the front garden but near the side wall of the Senate Block as he sent in the letter to the
jury. By this maneuver, he aimed at breaking the axiality and taking the monument
aside so that this would enable people stand not at the back of the monument but
always at the front and between people. This actually coincides with his ideal of a civic
forum, people approaching the parliament so that the monument at the side rather than
at the center is not any more an obstacle either visual or physical. Of all the 43
submissions at the first stage, only 10 were selected for the next stage. For the second
stage, they were asked to make changes, extra drawings and different scale models.
Amongst them Hüseyin Gezer (sculptor) and İmran Gezer (architect) project was
chosen as the winner. The second prize went to Mehmet Aksoy (sculptor) and Canan
Erselçuk (architect) and the third went to Sadi Çalık (sculptor) and Fatih Gorbon
(architect). In an interview with Behruz Çinici, he states that it could have been better
that Mehmet Aksoy got the first prize.
Gezer defined two criteria that were effective in the physical arrangement of the
monument (Gezer 1979:131). The first one was the building itself. The second one was
the formal ambiance due the place of the monument. The words speaking for the
monument was chosen amongst Atatürk’s sayings such as “Independence and Freedom
is my character”. Their composition was defined by three figures: Atatürk figure, Man
figure and Girl Figure. Atatürk figure in the composition has five meters height. Atatürk
is depicted in civil clothes and pictured as walking reflecting his progressive character.
Man figure is facing towards the İnönü Boulevard, with a flag representing
independence. Girl figure is facing towards the Grand National Assembly building, with
a torch of freedom. The second prize was awarded because of its plastic quality and
sensitive approach for producing semi-open spaces under a thorn-out eave. However it
was criticized because of its indirect relations with the ceremonial spaces. The third
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