Turkey Angered By Copenhagen Sculpture Commemorating The Armenian Ge

TURKEY ANGERED BY COPENHAGEN SCULPTURE COMMEMORATING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

14:12, 15 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Plans to install a sculpture commemorating the Armenian Genocide in
one of Copenhagen’s busiest squares have Turkish officials up in arms,
The Local reports.

A sculpture that will be placed in the heart of Copenhagen in
commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
threatens to further derail the already-strained relations between
Denmark and Turkey.

The nine-metre high sculpture, entitled ‘The Draem’ (Danish Remembrance
Armenian Empathy Messenger), is to be placed in the square Kultorvet
for ten days in May to mark 100 years since upwards of 1.5 million
Armenians were killed by the Ottoman regime.

The plans have elicited a protest from the Turkish Embassy in
Copenhagen.

“We are disappointed that a sculpture that describes the actions of
1915 as a ‘genocide’ will be displayed in one of Copenhagen’s large
squares,” the embassy wrote in an email to Politiken, adding that
the sculpture is “morally indefensible”.

“The Danish government does not keep silent about the tragic events of
1915 but has not officially acknowledged the events as genocide. Our
opinion is that that distinction is better left to historians,”
Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard told Politiken.

The city’s deputy mayor for culture, the Danish People’s Party’s Carl
Christian Ebbesen, said Turkey should stay out of local decisions.

“Turkey should completely stay out of what we do in Copenhagen and
what sort of freedoms of expression and freedoms of art that we have,”
Ebbesen told Politiken.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress