The Municipality of Yalova, a northwestern Turkish city where Japanese engineer Kishi Ryoichi killed himself, plans to unveil a monument in his memory within the next two months.
The structure will be named "Dignity Monument" to honor the engineer who committed suicide after blaming himself for a mishap in the construction of a bridge in the area.
Yalova Mayor Vefa Salman said yesterday that the municipality council approved the construction of the monument, which will be located in Tonami, a square named after Yalova's sister city in Japan.
Salman said the people of Yalova grieved over the death of the 51-year-old engineer. "We were devastated by his death. It was simply a matter of a rupture of a cable for us but apparently it meant more to him so that he ended his life in line with his own traditions. He also made an example of how people should adhere to vocational responsibility and morals. He did not see it as a simple incident and thought it may damage the bridge once construction was completed. It is an important case to show how one person takes his responsibility seriously," he said.
Salman said they had also planned to have his burial site in a spot overlooking the bridge he was working on but the engineer's family preferred his body to be buried in Japan. Kishi Ryoichi's body was sent to Japan yesterday after an autopsy.
The engineer's body was discovered at the entrance to a cemetery in Yalova's Altınova district by passersby. Police found out he had slit his wrists and throat. The engineer's colleagues discovered a suicide note in his room at a guesthouse for bridge engineers in Altınova. Ryoichi said in the note that he took sole responsibility for the rupture of a rope in the bridge under construction and that no other people were at fault.
