se times
13/01/2011
The "lifespan" of a monument intended to foster friendship with Armenia underscores Turkey's conflicted attitude.
By Alexander Christie-Miller for Southeast European Times -- 13/01/11
The sculpture of a divided human figure overlooking the city of Kars in eastern Turkey was supposed to symbolise the century-long estrangement of Turks and Armenians, and their yearning for renewed friendship.
But the fate of the 35m-high Statue of Humanity has become symbolic of the conflicting attitudes in Turkey towards reconciliation with its eastern neighbour.
Work began on the monument in 2006. Only, half-completed, it has been earmarked for demolition. On a visit to the city last weekend, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned its fate into an international news story when he labeled the statue an "abomination".
"We wanted to build something that would bring people together," Naif Alibeyoglu, who commissioned the monument while he was mayor of Kars, told SETimes.
The bitterest source of division between the two countries is the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Turks during World War I. Armenians insist the murders were genocide -- a label Turkey rejects.
Alibeyoglu said the sculpture is a riposte not only to genocide memorials in Armenia, but also to one in the neighbouring Turkish city of Igdir, home of the Genocide Monument and Museum. The 43m-high monument was built in 1997 to commemorate Turks killed by Armenians in the same conflict.
"It was supposed to be an alternative to the genocide monuments, which promote a bad relationship and are designed to divide the two people," he said.
Amid staunch opposition from local nationalists, who view the sculpture as a capitulation to Armenia, construction stopped in 2008. Opponents flagged a supposed planning violation, which has led to the demolition order.
Diplomatic relations have been blocked since 1993, when Armenia went to war with Azerbaijan. Since then, the border on which the monument stands has remained closed.
Protocols aimed at normalising relations signed by both countries' leaders in 2009 have yet to be ratified by either parliament.
But in Kars, which would stand to reap the economic benefits of an open border, the desire for reconciliation is strong.
Kaan Soyan, co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council, said that while the current national trade volume between the countries wavers between $200m-300m dollars a year, this could rise to more than $1 billion if the border opened, half of which would come through cities such as Kars.
The closure stifled the city's natural role as a regional transportation hub, and better relations could prompt an influx of Armenian tourists visiting their historic sites, such as the ruined city of Ani, Soyan said.
"Kars has always been a centre for interrelations between different countries and ethnic groups," he told SETimes. "There needs to be a revival of that old attitude. Ethnic separation never helped any region."
Rober Koptas, editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, says the decision to build the monument, and now to destroy it, had more to do with domestic Turkish politics than the stalled rapprochement with Armenia.
"This was a political statue," he said.
Cengiz Aktar, an international relations professor at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University, says the decision to scrap the monument is telling.
"It gives a clear picture how low in the list of prioritie\s Armenia is for the government," he told SETimes.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com
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