Erdogan orders monument to Armenian-Turkish friendship torn down

January 10, 2011 - 11:28 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered a monument to friendship between Turkey and Armenia torn down, signaling the depth of a freeze in efforts to reopen the border and improve relations between the two neighbors.

Erdogan described the monument as "a freak," speaking Saturday in the city of Kars in Eastern Turkey. He called on the local mayor, who is from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, to pull it down by the time of his next visit and build a park instead, according to Anadolu Ajansi, Turkey's state-owned news agency.

The prime minister based his objections on artistic grounds. "They put a freak there…it is impossible to think that such a thing should exist next to fundamental works of art," he said.

Erdogan's decision is likely to prove good domestic politics ahead of elections in June. It brought a quick response from the main opposition Republican Peoples Party, or CHP.

"The sculpture…is neither strange nor ugly," AA quoted former culture minister and CHP legislator Ercan Karakas as saying.

He described the monument as “high art and an antidote to genocide monuments and called on Erdogan to reverse his decision.”

The statue of two 30-meter tall concrete figures reaching out to each other was built on a rise above Kars, just 40 kilometers from the Armenian border, in 2008. It was commissioned by the former mayor of Kars, who made extensive efforts to build relations with Armenia, believing that reopening the border for trade could only benefit the remote town, The WSJ reported.