World Bulletin / News Desk

The governorship of the borough of Yenisehir in Turkey’s Diyarbakir has removed a 20-meter long sign quoting the famous words of the founder of the republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The sign, which quotes the statement ‘‘How happy is he who says ‘I am a Turk,’’’ was placed on Buyukalp Street in 1980 by the army after a military coup. Residents in the area have called the removal of the sign a ‘historic moment’ as they gathered to take photographs.

Mahsuni Karaman, a practicing lawyer in Diyarbakir, wrote a letter to the governorship requesting that the sign be removed. He claimed that the sign was a symbol of the 1980 coup, and with the recent Democratization Package which was announced by Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month, he argued that the sign should be removed under the framework of the new reforms. His request was granted.