Huge symbol of reconciliation is torn down
Workers have begun dismantling a giant sculpture meant to promote reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.
Turkish TV footage yesterday showed a crane bringing down one of the two heads of the 115ft stone sculpture which features a divided human figure, near the two nations' border.
The monument had been criticised in Turkey because it overshadows an Islamic shrine. During a visit to the site in January, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called it a "freak," prompting moves by local officials to have it removed.
Artists campaigned unsuccessfully to save the monument.
Prominent Turkish painter Bedri Baykam was stabbed and hospitalised in Istanbul last week after a speech in which he condemned plans to tear it down.