Looters keepers
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 06, 2009 00:00
It’s getting hard to avoid the impression of a growing list of demands the world has for Turkey, particularly regarding the country’s accession to the European Union. For the benefit of Turkey’s historical heritage, if not just to redress the imbalance, this is a good time for the rest of the world to oblige a long-running Turkish request of its own.
The geographic location of modern-day Turkey has been, and is, the home to a cornucopia of civilization. There is no better analogy of the consequences of its location than the constant holdups on the Bosphorus tunnel project. Fortunately for Turkey, these holdups are of precious worth, while it seems digging barely proceeds a few meters before another sign of its rich history is uncovered, and then restored and displayed for future generations. From pre-Roman to late-Ottoman, there is an inevitable wealth of residue to be found of these civilizations on Turkey’s shores. Perhaps even more inevitable is that such wealth has often attracted less than scrupulous purveyors of antiquity. Whether taken out of the country centuries ago with dubious authority or more recently in a smuggler’s carry-on luggage, thousands of artifacts have disappeared from Turkey only to reappear in foreign museums or in the hands of private collectors. And Turkey, quite rightly we think, wants them back.
Yesterday we printed an article about the protracted efforts of the Turkish authorities to have these treasures returned. While Turkey has managed to procure the repatriation of some 2,000 items, certain foreign museums have been more reluctant to give up some of the more prized possessions. We told of the so far futile efforts to bring back a magnificent altar to Zeus, currently housed in the Bergama Museum in Berlin. An upper-torso of Heracles remains posing only for those able to visit it in Boston.
All these artifacts and the many more that remain in the clutches of foreign collections have a rightful place back in their country of origin. These pieces are remnants of the different cultural forces that have shaped this nation. While Turkey may be very different today compared with the heyday of the Byzantine Empire, the peoples that came before have left an indelible mark on who and where we are today. Surely a justice to history, not of Turkey but the world, would be to reunite poor Heracles’ legs with the rest of him to stand whole in the country he was found.
The issue of displaced artifacts, often acquired with legitimacy almost as dated as the items themselves, is one that is not unique to Turkey. One of the more famous ongoing disputes is between Athens and the British Museum over what are known as the Elgin Marbles. Just as Athens argues their rightful home is with the rest of the Parthenon, relocated Turkish artifacts belong in exhibitions here that showcase the history of their origin. So to the rest of the world, give us our history back.
Yesterday we printed an article about the protracted efforts of the Turkish authorities to have these treasures returned. While Turkey has managed to procure the repatriation of some 2,000 items, certain foreign museums have been more reluctant to give up some of the more prized possessions. We told of the so far futile efforts to bring back a magnificent altar to Zeus, currently housed in the Bergama Museum in Berlin. An upper-torso of Heracles remains posing only for those able to visit it in Boston.
All these artifacts and the many more that remain in the clutches of foreign collections have a rightful place back in their country of origin. These pieces are remnants of the different cultural forces that have shaped this nation. While Turkey may be very different today compared with the heyday of the Byzantine Empire, the peoples that came before have left an indelible mark on who and where we are today. Surely a justice to history, not of Turkey but the world, would be to reunite poor Heracles’ legs with the rest of him to stand whole in the country he was found.
The issue of displaced artifacts, often acquired with legitimacy almost as dated as the items themselves, is one that is not unique to Turkey. One of the more famous ongoing disputes is between Athens and the British Museum over what are known as the Elgin Marbles. Just as Athens argues their rightful home is with the rest of the Parthenon, relocated Turkish artifacts belong in exhibitions here that showcase the history of their origin. So to the rest of the world, give us our history back.