By Asbarez | Wednesday, 04 March 2015
'Monument to Humanity' by Mehmet Aksoy in Kars. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The court ruled Erdogan must pay 10,000 Turkish lira ($4,000) in compensation to sculptor Mehmet Aksoy, who created the 115-foot work known as either the “Monument to Humanity” or the “Statue of Humanity.” According to Today’s Zaman, Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time of the visit, remarked: “They put a monstrosity next to the tomb of [Muslim scholar] Hasan Harakani. It is impossible to think that such a thing should exist next to fundamental works of art.”
Aksoy claimed Erdogan’s labeling of the statue in this way was an “insult” and that its removal had caused him mental anguish, while Erdogan’s defense lawyers claimed the leader’s comments were a critique rather than an insult, the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported. Aksoy strongly criticized Erdogan’s assessment of the work depicting two concrete figures reaching out to each other. The sculptor said it embodied anti-war themes and messages of friendship. The statue had been built on a hill about 25 miles from the Turkish-Armenian border.
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