ANKARA (A.W.)—An Istanbul court has ordered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pay 10,000 Turkish liras ($4,000 USD) to artist Mehmet Aksoy for calling his sculpture—meant to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia—an “abomination.”
The Associated Press on March 3 reported that the court ordered Erdogan to compensate Aksoy for the mental anguish caused. The artist had sued Erdogan for “insult.” Erdogan’s attorney claimed that his comments weren’t an insult, but rather a critique.
In a January 2011 visit to Kars, about 30 miles from the Armenian border, Erdogan declared the giant 100-foot-long stone statue a “freak” and “abomination,” and called for its demolition and replacement with “a beautiful park.”
According to Aksoy, the sculpture was to acknowledge the pain rooted in the division between Turkey and Armenia. The two figures, who are enemies, become one again, with an outreaching hand forming a bridge. Aksoy’s aim was to promote peace, brotherhood, and rapprochement between the two countries. He dubbed the monument, “the statue of humanity.”
The Kars Municipal Assembly deliberated on the fate of the controversial statue in late January 2011 and decided to demolish it. While members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) opposed its proposed demolition, representatives from the other 2 parties, which included 11 members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and 8 members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), voted in favor.
A man was arrested on April 18, 2011, in connection with the stabbing of prominent Turkish artist Bedri Baykam, after the latter spoke out in defense of Aksoy’s statue. Baykam, 53, and his assistant were both stabbed in the abdomen in broad daylight as they left an artists’ meeting.
According to Turkey’s Today’s Zaman newspaper, Erodgan’s attorneys plan to appeal the Turkish court’s decision.
FUNDAMENTAL DICTATORIAL CHANGE COMES FROM THE TOP DOWN ; UNLIKE DEMOCRATIC CHANGE FROM THE BOTTOM UP.
OLD ARMENIAN PROVERB ” THE FISH STARTS SMELLING FROM THE HEAD”