TÜRK KÜLTÜRÜNDE BEDEN VE "GÜZEL İSTANBUL" OLAYI.

The fate of "Beautiful Istanbul", one of the sculptures erected in a public space in Istanbul for the 50th year celebrations of the Turkish Republic under the joint initiative of Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, State School of Applied and Fine Arts and the Istanbul Municipality is not only a display of the relationship between political authority and art in Turkey, but an indication of the problem of representing and exhibiting the nude in Turkish culture. "Beautiful Istanbul", a sculpture dating 1974 by Gürdal Duyar was taken down by authorities on the grounds of the Ministry of Interior decision that it represented "Turkish mothers disgracefully", and that the artistic level of the Turkish people could not yet accepts such sculpture. Becoming a focus of hot debate in the political and cultural arena at the time, the "Beautiful Istanbul" became the site where different political ideologies collided. Comparing "Beautiful Istanbul" with other representations of the body both within art and popular culture in Turkey at the time gives us clues as to how the body is conceived in Turkish culture. This paper aims to show, through an art historical example, of how certain boundaries have been set in Turkish culture in relation to the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]