Fate of eastern Turkey's Humanity Monument uncertain

The construction of a monument in the eastern city of Kars, on Turkey's border with Armenia, could be a great chance for regional peace. However, the fate of the unfinished Monument of Humanity is still in the hands of Turkey's Ministry of Culture.

Dialogue and mutual rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia became more clarified after the two neighbors recently signed a historic deal in Zurich to normalize diplomatic relations following a century of hostility. The historic steps particularly accelerated after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Armenia's president at the time, Robert Kocharian, proposing the establishment of a historians’ commission to investigate the deaths of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, which some people labeled as genocide.

The monument depicts two figures standing face to face on the verge of shaking hands. Its construction was inspired by an Azerbaijani folk song. A three-meter-high hand that was supposed to join the two figures was never attached. It lies fingers up on the gravel in front of the monument. The construction work began under the auspices of the then Kars Mayor Naif Alibeyoglu, the local head of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP. From its inception in 2006, it has encountered stiff opposition. Political prejudices in the country overshadowed the project. Oktay Aktaş, the local head of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, has led the opposition campaign against the construction. Currently, it still stands unfinished.

Mehmet Aksoy, the architect of the unfinished monument, said the monument is being used as a tool for political gains. “The construction of the monument has been halted even though it calls for peace. We have a hypocritical policy. The only thing preventing construction is a lack of conscience,” Aksoy said.

Aksoy said the monument should make its debut amid a great inauguration ceremony for Turkey to prove its sincerity to normalize ties with Armenia. "They have tried to make peace on one hand, while they tried to prevent peace on the other,” he said.

Aksoy said its demolition could destroy other cultural heritage sites in the area. “It is difficult to destroy the 1,500-kilogram Monument of Humanity. They can destroy it only if they place a bomb inside it. However, such destruction could destroy the Twelve Apostles Church and the historical bastions,” he said, adding that if the council were to do that it would be no different from the Taliban.