Monument to Humanity is Turkey's internal affair – Davutoglu

The issue of tearing down the monument to Humanity and Peace in the Turkish town of Kars is Turkey's internal affair, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said.

The statement came after a meeting with a former German foreign minister, Yoshka Fischer, in Istanbul.

"This is a discussion taking place inside Turkey and has nothing to do with Armenia-Turkey relations," Davutoglu told a joint news conference with Fischer.

He said Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement on tearing down the monument has no political context and should be considered based on its architectural and aesthetic merits.

Earlier, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan expressed regret over Erdogan's statement, saying that it could be an impediment in the bilateral ties normalization process.