Turkish town erects eccentric statue of an Ottoman prince taking a selfie... and it is vandalised just days later

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The narcissistic statue's mobile phone and sword was savagely hacked off
Police have been ordered to guard the prince from further vandalism
It has divided opinion with claims it is disrespectful to the city's history

By Becky Pemberton For Mailonline

Published: 06:30 EST, 13 May 2015 | Updated: 06:53 EST, 13 May 2015

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It appears that not everyone is a fan of the selfie craze.

A statue of an Ottoman prince taking a photo of himself in Turkey was savagely hacked only days after it was erected, depriving the monarch of a crucial gadget for any selfie taker; his mobile phone.

The eccentric statue, intended to attract tourists in Amasya, Northern Turkey, divided opinion as soon as it was unveiled in its river-side location.

As well as slicing off the phone, vandals also wrenched off the prince’s sword resulting in the statue getting its own police guard to prevent further damage.

A statue of a prince in Ottoman was savagely vandalised, with the mobile phone and sword hacked off just days after it was erected

Despite being a new addition to the city, the prince had already lured many tourists trying to snap their own selfies with him.

‘It is certainly very beautiful,’ the Hurriyet Daily News newspaper quoted Dilek Tuna, a visitor from the central Turkish province of Corum, as saying.

‘It's different.’

Opinions about the statue divided some residents though who felt the selfie-taking monarch was ridiculous and did not fit in with the town’s history.

Another local resident, remarked to Today’s Zaman: ‘Everybody knows that cell phones did not exist during that time period.

‘It is disrespectful to our ancestors to portray a prince in that way. Whoever broke that part of the statue should have just removed it completely.’

The prince divided opinion as soon as it was erected, with many claiming it is disrespectful to their tradition of having princes come to Ottoman to prepare them for ruling the empire

The prince was designed as a nod to Amasya’s history, as princes or Shahzade was sent to Ottoman to prepare them for ruling the empire.

In the past these figures went on to be prominent Sultans who included Mehmet II, or Mehmet the Conqueror, who conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 1453.

Officials state that the statue was merely designed as tourist attraction, and was not intended to belittle the princely tradition.

The mayor's office in Amasya, a city an hour south of Turkey's Black Sea coast, said police have been ordered to guard the disarmed prince and prosecutors are investigating the vandalism.

Prosecutors have also been told to press charges against those who support the attack on social media, under laws against praising a criminal act.