Erdogan the Aesthete
by Veli Sirin
April 24, 2012 at 3:00 am
The monument [symbolizing reconciliation between Armenians and Turks], Erdogan said, was "monstrous;" he issued a categorical order for its demolition. The minister of culture and tourism tried to calm the resulting uproar. But Erdogan shut him up, repeating, "Yes, I said the monument is monstrous and the responsible mayor should make sure it disappears as quickly as possible."
Early in 2011, while visiting the Turkish city of Kars, less than 20 miles (30 kilometres) from the Armenian frontier. the country's neo-fundamentalist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Justice and Development Party (known by its local initials as AKP), discovered a memorial to the Armenian victims of Turkish massacres in 1915.
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