A protest action will be held against demolition of Monument to Humanity dedicated to the Armenian-Turkish friendship in Kars on April 23.

Kars was much spoken in the world after Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the monument “monstrous”, former mayor of Kars Naif Alibeyoglu and the sculptor of the monument Mehmet Aksol told a press conference on April 21, Haberler website reports.

“During this period over 5,000 articles were published on Kars city. A large influx of local and foreign tourists has been observed during this period. “Following the construction of the monument, we planned to build an artificial waterfall, ropeway and restaurants,” he said.

In his turn, Mehmet Aksol stressed over 200 artists will join the protest action on April 23.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier, during his visit to Kars, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the monument to Armenia-Turkey  friendship “monstrous” and ordered to demolish it.

Former Mayor of Kars Naif Alibeyoglu has always stood for the opening of the Armenia-Turkey border without any preconditions and for this purpose organized a collection of signature in Kars. On his initiative, a large monument was put to represent the Armenian-Turkish friendship and peace. However, Alibeyoglu was defeated in the mayoral elections in 2009. The unfinished monument was put near the old Armenian district of Kars.

“The decision to demolish the monument to the Armenian-Turkish friendship was made at the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s request, former Mayor of Kars city,” Alibeyoglu said. “Turkey has an oil and gas dependence on Azerbaijan. This is the only reason for demolition.”