This paper focuses on sculpture in Turkey as a particularly useful way of examining how the Turkish artists chose to communicate their views, particularly on national identity in the face of prolonged contact with Europe. Without doubt, from the early twentieth century onward, the search for national identity in the creation of contemporary art was a widespread goal in Turkey. Ataturk and those who administered policy believed in the didactic power of visual arts: paintings and sculptures of the right kind could help educate the citizen. From the Kemalist perspective, the German refugees could play an important role in the modernization of visual arts and art education, as they did in music education. Notwithstanding the intervention of the state, Turkish visual arts developed along two distinct paths, each with its own subject matter, style, and mindset. While a majority of artists imitated the Western style of visual arts, some were critical of westernization and stayed loyal to the traditional Ottoman genre. The first part of this paper illuminates the changing role of state actors regarding the construction of national identity, and shows where the state and society stands in the battle between modern and traditional art in Turkey. The second part particularly focuses on the arrival of Rudolf Belling to Turkey and shows his critical role in the reconstruction of the Department of Sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts, the major institution that produces art school graduates to this day in Turkey. Looking at Belling's work and its reception in Turkey and Germany, this paper aims to highlight the transnational encounters between Turkey and Germany to better understand the dialogue between the state elites and artists as decision makers and agents of change respectively. Unfortunately, Belling's experiences in Turkey turned out to be different from a majority of the German mmigr? scholars. Perceived as the "foreigner inside" by his colleagues at the Academy, Belling was enforced to leave the Department of Sculpture at the Academy that he strived to establish on the grounds that he was a "foreigner."