Statue of peace Turkey demolition

hand has never added to the sculpture, the demolition of a huge Turkish statue devoted to reconciliation with the Armenia started, several months after the Prime Minister described him as a "freak".

The statue of m in height 30 - representing two human figures face to face - was built on a mountain in the Turkish city of Kars, near the Armenian border.

Local authorities ordered several years ago to symbolize the end to decades of hostility and suspicion.

Artists have tried to save the statue, which could take 10 days to dismantle.

The company carrying out the demolition has already reduced one of the figures by crane, said witnesses.

Approximation in the impasse

The work, called the Statue of humanity, has been the creation of the famous Turkish artist Mehmet Aksoy.

When finished, he would have been a figure that extends a hand to the other.

"I'm really sorry, sorry for the Turkey," Anatolia news agency quoted the sculptor said. "They can demolish, we will reinvent it.".

She was commissioned as a gesture of reconciliation, such as the Turkey and the Armenia began attempts to repair relations after a century of hostility.

But this process developed died last year and there were a number of objections to the monument.

During a visit to Kars in January, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described would have the monument as a "freak" and an affront to a sanctuary of the 11th century in the vicinity.

Critics say that Mr Erdogan may aimed his remarks at nationalists, who are strong in this part of the Turkey, before the legislative elections in June of.

Kars was once a large Armenian community, which was shattered in massacres which Armenians and many historians call a genocide in 1915.

The Turkey rejects the term and said atrocities were committed on both sides in the second world war.

In 2009, the two countries agreed to normalize relations and, in this spirit, the former Mayor of Kars commissioned the sculpture.