The email was polite.
Syrupy polite.
From a man named Yavuz Kalem—a well-funded, well-meaning philanthropist who had built libraries, schools, and at least one marble birdbath shaped like Plato's head.
The subject line:
"Proposal for Permanent Civic Memorial: Kara in Reflection"
Attached:3D mockups.Press release draft.Quotes from Emir's notebooks in etched copper.A list of sculptors.And a very expensive logistics timeline.
Target unveiling date: Republic Day.
Emir read it three times.
Then stared at the proposed statue:
Himself.Sitting on a bench.Notebook in hand.One palm open, as if offering memory like breadcrumbs.
It was... tastefully mythologized.
And absolutely cursed.
—
He wrote back two sentences:
"Thank you for your admiration.Please use the money to buy chairs."
He thought that would be the end of it.
It wasn't.
—
Within a week:
The news had leaked.
Debate exploded online.
#LetHimSit and #LetHimStand trended simultaneously.
A columnist wrote:
"Kara resists permanence. That's exactly why we need it."
—
"Congratulations," Atatürk said,"You've officially become an argument."
— "I told them no."
"Ah, but your 'no' is part of the myth now."
— "They're fighting over where I should sit. I'm not even tired."
*"You're forgetting—you don't belong to yourself anymore."
—
Narin called him the next day.
— "They want you to make a statement."
— "I already did."
— "Yeah, but it wasn't emotional enough.They want you to either cry or quote a poem."
Emir sighed.
— "I have a better idea."
—
That weekend, Emir quietly visited one of the memory circles.
Brought a bench.A real one.Cheap. Heavy. Ugly.
Placed it outside.
Sat.
No speech.No quotes.No cameras.
When someone asked, "Is this the statue?"He said:
— "No.It's just a place to sit."
Then he left.
The bench stayed.
By the next morning, three others had joined it.
Someone had left tea.Someone else a notebook.
One student added a sign:
"This bench declines all monuments."
—
In his notebook that night, Emir wrote:
"If they must carve something, let it be silence.Let it be shared space.Let it be a chair."
"Statues rust.But a bench?A bench lets someone rest."