6 yıl önce

A shave most watched as Turkish politician is forced to keep his word

Aytug Atici, former MP of Turkey's opposition party, said he would only shave if country's state of emergency was lifted. It was.

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Aytug Atici getting his two- year-old beard shaved in the barber, in the National Assembly of Turkey, in Ankara.

After the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, 2016 and later extended it seven times at intervals of three months.

One opposition politician opposed to the move declared that he would only shave once it was was lifted. He had to wait a long time – in fact it grew to 31 centimetres according to the Anadolu news agency.

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Aytug Atici siiting in the barbershop, waiting while the barber was getting ready.

With the declaration that the state of emergency had been lifted on Monday, the opposition CHP's former MP Aytug Atici trooped off to the barbershop in full glare of the media to get his beard cut.

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Cameras clicked and film rolled as the barber began the arduous task of cutting and shaving two years' of growth.

Atici says he protested because he believed Turkey was strong enough to fight terrorism and that the state had all the means at its disposal to effectively face any terror threat.

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All cameras focus on his face as his beard lis cut.

As Atici headed to the barbershop, he said "I fought (protested) the state of emergency with every strand of my beard, every day, till this day. We've come this far. My way of protest, my beard, become the subject matter everywhere, every single day. Finally my beard reached its goal and Turkey remembered its choice and became aware of all the downsides of state of emergency, once again."

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Photographers record his beard being cut off after the lifting of the state of emergency.

Atici also told the members of press packed into the small barbershop that he was called "OHAL Baba (father)" and "OHAL Grandfather" during this time. OHAL is the abbreviation in Turkish for state of emergency.

He added that he was also compared by others to Karl Marx, the father of communism, as well as Gandalf – a fictional character and one of the protagonists in author J R R Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.