The statue in the Piazza continues to provoke.
During a visit to this Piazza, near the Turkish-Armenian border, the Turkish prime minister, called Mehmet Aksoy‘s “Humanity” sculpture a “freak”… a “monstrosity” … a mere months later, cranes and other heavy machinery have demolished the nearly 100-foot-tall … controversial symbol of Turkish-Armenian friendship.
The statue, – two halves of one figure ‘making a go at it’ on top of a hill near the city of Kars, Turkey – is no more.
It was commissioned as a gesture of peace between Turkey and Armenia, hoping to help repair a century of hostility… but its location… and the current political mood apparently make “Humanity’s” demolition a worthy endeavor, in today’s Turkey.
It may find its new home in Berlin, though, if restaurateur Adnan Oral has his way. There’s an interesting interview with Mr Oral about why he might want to bring the 300 ton sculpture to Berlin, and where he would want to locate it – on Spiegel Online, and we link to it here.
The photo above is from Spiegel’s photogallery of the statue.
The BBC reports … that Anatolia news agency … quoted the sculptor as saying. “”I am really sorry, sorry on behalf of Turkey … They can demolish it, we will re-make it.”
