Master Artist Hasan Aycın’s Palestine Exhibition Opens at Our Presidency

The opening ceremony held at the YTB headquarters was attended by YTB President Abdulhadi Turus, representatives of non-governmental organizations in Ankara, art enthusiasts, institution staff, international students, and many invited guests.

​In his opening speech, Turus commemorated with mercy the martyrs who single-handedly uphold human dignity in Gaza and resist hunger, bombs, and genocide with their faith.

​Defining the current era as a period where "images" invade everything while "truth" is veiled, Turus stated that we are passing through a "post-truth" era where even a genocide watched live by millions is "ignored" through perception games, words lose their meaning, and reality is manipulated.

​
Turus emphasized that in such a time, the question of "What is art?" has ceased to be an aesthetic debate and has turned into a vital stance.

​Stating that they gathered to witness and be inspired by Hasan Aycın a "contemplative thinker who thinks through lines" and has made his art a "mirror of truth" throughout his career Turus expressed that YTB does not view this merely as an art event.

​“For us, Hasan Aycın’s lines are one of the most powerful instruments of our ‘cultural diplomacy.’ Do you know why? Because these lines have no ‘language.’ You don’t need to write English, Arabic, or French translations under them. Whether a Japanese, a Brazilian, or a German looks at them, they perceive the ‘oppression’ and the ‘resistance’ in that line in the same way. This is a universal language. This is our civilization’s way of addressing the common conscience of humanity,” Turus remarked.

​Following the speeches, the exhibition was officially inaugurated.

​After Turus and the guests toured the Palestine exhibition, a panel discussion was held. In the panel titled “Conscience and Witnessing in Hasan Aycın’s Lines,” moderated by writer Cemal Şakar, the Palestinian issue was discussed in depth within the framework of art, literature, and collective memory by Prof. Dr. Osman Bayraktar (Istanbul Commerce University), Prof. Dr. Mehmet Narlı (Balıkesir University), and author Abdurrahim Karadeniz.

​The exhibition will remain open to visitors throughout the month of Ramadan.