Armenia shares taste of art critic/Turkish PM Erdoğan on statue

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s description of a peace monument in the eastern city of Kars as an “abomination” has reverberated on the other side of the border, but not in a way many would expect.

Armenians in the city of Gyumri, only 60 kilometers from Kars, are closely following developments involving the “Monument of Humanity,” sculpted by Mehmet Aksoy, after Erdoğan said while in the eastern city over the weekend that he hoped not to see it again when he visited Kars in the future. “They have placed an abomination next to the Mausoleum of Hasan Harakani [a religious figure from the 10th century]; they erected a strange thing,” Erdoğan told citizens.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Tuesday, Karine Harutyunyan, a top executive at Gyumri-based Gala TV, said the channel is following the developments closely.

Culture minister defends Erdoğan

In an attempt to defend Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from criticism, Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay said the prime minister did not call a sculpture in the Turkish city of Kars “freak,” daily Radikal reported Tuesday.

“The prime minister saw many structures not in harmony with Kars’ urban tissue and articulated his sorrow. He never mentioned at any time the word ‘sculpture’,” Günay said.

During a visit to Kars on Jan. 8, Erdoğan reportedly said: “They put a freak near Hasan Harakani’s tomb. It is unacceptable that a thing like that could be erected near all these foundational and artistic pieces. Our mayor will quickly do his job.”

“Erdoğan’s statements are an indication of the current level of Turkey-Armenia ties,” Harutyunyan said. “No dialogue is wanted. Politicians are punishing the people, but we remain committed to dialogue.” The people of Kars “acknowledge the importance of the monument,” according to Harutyunyan, who nevertheless said the sculpture is “ugly.”

Hagop Çakıryan, a political columnist at the Yerevan-based Azg newspaper, gave support to the Turkish government, telling the Daily News that he believes in the sincerity of Erdoğan.

Opening the border

“It would not be correct to relate the monument controversy to bilateral relations,” Çakıryan said. “I still believe Erdoğan would like to open the border. But Turkey is not only about the Justice and Development Party, or AKP. The nationalist [current] opposes the opening of the border.”

Çakıryan said he has seen the monument during his visits to Kars. “It is, frankly, aesthetically ugly. And I do not believe it has artistic value,” he said.

Levon Barseghyan, head of the Gyumri-based Journalists Club Asbarez, said he agrees with the Turkish prime minister on the “aesthetic ugliness of the sculpture.”

“Still, the solution is not demolishing it,” Barseghyan said. The club is known for friendship and dialogue projects that involve frequent visits to Kars.

“Erdoğan is trying to win votes through political maneuvering,” he claimed, saying that former Mayor Naif Alibeyoğlu’s loss in the local elections in March 2009 was an indication of the political climate in the city.

Alibeyoğlu had lost to the candidate from the governing AKP, Nevzat Bozkuş, who is the current mayor.

“It doesn’t really matter whether that monument remains or is demolished,” said Barseghyan. “The relations that warmed with the football diplomacy in 2008 remain frozen anyway.”