Debated sculpture to Turkey-Armenia friendship in eastern Turkey to be demolished

The Kars Municipality has decided to demolish the hotly debated “Monument to Humanity” sculpture in the city, reported Anatolian news agency on Tuesday.

While 11 members of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and eight members of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, voted “yes,” four members of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, voted “no” during the municipal assembly meeting.

Private channel CNNTürk said an environment regulation appropriate to the historical texture will be made on the position of the sculpture. The “Monument to Humanity,” whose construction was started during the reign of the previous mayor, caused to debates given that it was within a protected area.

During a Jan. 8 visit to the eastern province of Kars, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pointed to the 35-meter-tall sculpture and called it “freakish” and encouraged its removal.

The comments have since touched off a stormy debate over to what extent politics can dictate aesthetics.


/Hurriyet Daily News/