Turkish authorities have removed an Assyrian sculpture of a mythological winged bull known as Lamassu, from the front of a local council building in Diyarbakir, home to many of Turkey’s Assyrian minority.

No official explanation has been provided by the Turkish government by the symbolic Assyrian sculpture was removed.

The sculpture was erected by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which has many Assyrian members and a strong presence in Diyarbakir, but was removed after Turkey placed unelected government loyalists in charge of the municipality, under the emergency decree issued after the failed military coup in July 2015, which gave sweeping powers to the government, AINA reported.

Erol Dora, an Assyrian member of the Turkish Parliament from HDP, raised the issue of the sculpture in parliament. He asked the interior minister why the sculpture was removed and what has become of it, but no response to his inquiry has been made, the AINA report continued.