bbc news
10 January 2011 Last updated at 17:07 GMT
Turkey is considering demolishing a giant peace sculpture being built near the border with Armenia.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the monument as grotesque and unworthy of being described as art.
It was commissioned as a gesture of reconciliation, as Turkey and Armenia began attempts to repair relations after a century of hostility.
But that process stalled last year and there have been a number of objections to the monument.
The work called the Statue of Humanity towers over the city of Kars - with two 30m-high sculptures representing a divided human.
It is the creation of well-known Turkish artist Mehmet Aksoy and, when finished, it would have one figure extending a hand to the other.
Kars once had a large Armenian community, which was annihilated in 1915 as part of mass killings which Armenians and many historians call a genocide.
Turkey rejects the term and says atrocities were committed on both sides in World War I.
In 2009 the two countries agreed to normalise relations and, in that spirit, the former mayor of Kars commissioned the sculpture. 'Something weird'
On a visit to Kars at the weekend, the prime minister reportedly described the monument as an affront to the nearby shrine of Hasan Harakani.
"They have put a freak near the shrine," Mr Erdogan was quoted as saying in Hurriyet newspaper. "They have erected something weird."
He reportedly urged the local mayor to knock down the statue and create a park in its place.
But Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay has been playing down the remarks.....more...
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the monument as grotesque and unworthy of being described as art.
It was commissioned as a gesture of reconciliation, as Turkey and Armenia began attempts to repair relations after a century of hostility.
But that process stalled last year and there have been a number of objections to the monument.
The work called the Statue of Humanity towers over the city of Kars - with two 30m-high sculptures representing a divided human.
It is the creation of well-known Turkish artist Mehmet Aksoy and, when finished, it would have one figure extending a hand to the other.
Kars once had a large Armenian community, which was annihilated in 1915 as part of mass killings which Armenians and many historians call a genocide.
Turkey rejects the term and says atrocities were committed on both sides in World War I.
In 2009 the two countries agreed to normalise relations and, in that spirit, the former mayor of Kars commissioned the sculpture. 'Something weird'
On a visit to Kars at the weekend, the prime minister reportedly described the monument as an affront to the nearby shrine of Hasan Harakani.
"They have put a freak near the shrine," Mr Erdogan was quoted as saying in Hurriyet newspaper. "They have erected something weird."
He reportedly urged the local mayor to knock down the statue and create a park in its place.
But Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay has been playing down the remarks.....more...
read more: bbc news
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