The socialist Thought Club from Turkey’s Middle East Technical University (METU) has inaugurated a sculpture dedicated to Karl Marx’s 200th birthday with the attendance of students and labourers on April 30.
“Turkey’s misfortune has turned into a luck for us here because a statue of Karl Marx will be exhibited within an institutional frame for the first time,” Eren Orhan, one fo the creators of the statue, said at the opening ceremony.
Talking about the creation process of the Marx statue, Orhan said that many people contributed to the work in accordance with the thought of Marx, adding that the work was created with a collective production, including the service of the artist and labourers.
‘HIS NAME WILL ENDURE THROUGH THE AGES, AND SO ALSO WILL HIS WORK’
“Since Marxism could infuse itself into science, culture, arts and politics in the 19th century, today even liberalism and conservatism can manifest itself from an anti-Marxist perspective in literature,” Orhan said, adding that Marxist thoughts are very important for universities and academy.
Arguing that Marx’s thoughts and the working class movement urged the university to carry out academic studies in this field, Orhan continued, “Therefore, Marx is an indispensable value for the university. To conclude, Engels said at the grave of Marx: ‘His name will endure through the ages, and so also will his work’”.
One of Turkey’s top universities, METU in Turkish capital city of Ankara is well known with its left-wing and socialist tradition as the university has trained numerous prominent revolutionary figures, students and academics throughout many decades.
