Huseyin Cetinel, a retired forestry engineer, originally painted the Findikli stairs in Istanbul in bright rainbow colours to brighten up the Beyoglu district and “to make people smile”.  The authorities swiftly painted them over in cement grey in effect politicising colour, an act that publicly backfired via social media and forced them into repainting the rainbow.  Now there are dozens of brightly coloured stairs and walkways not only in Istanbul but across the rest of the country too.