Seeking Return of Art, Turkey Jolts Museums
This isn't a new issue by any stretch, but Turkey is calling for the return of archeological treasures which it claims are rightfully theirs, with statements like these to both back up their claims, and intimidate museums:
“Artifacts, just like people, animals or plants, have souls and
historical memories,” said Turkey’s culture minister, Ertugrul Gunay.
“When they are repatriated to their countries, the balance of nature
will be restored.”
It strikes me that Turkey has a lot of gall to wage a campaign like this; they are leaning on an Ottoman-era law to get these pieces back, when it was Ottoman authorities who would often sell artifacts to foreign collectors in the first place. Further, they are claiming that any piece which was taken from Ottoman territory belongs to them - which conveniently protects items in their own museums which were taken from other countries, then under Ottoman control. Not only is it galling that they use such a double standard, but it is against the standards they agreed to under the banner of UNESCO. If Turkey succeeds in these cases, then any nation can claim any archeological treasure, anywhere - so long as it belonged to their state at some point, in this past. So does this mean that Italy can demand the return of all Roman antiquities?
This is bullshit, and I agree with the author wholeheartedly when he ties it together with Turkey's rising status as a powerful state in the Middle East. It is easiest to flex your muscles in the cultural realm, especially when you play on Western guilt regarding past colonial and imperial ventures - while conveniently forgetting your own.
Oh, and Mr. Gunay? Artifacts, plants, and animals don't have souls or historical memories; we created them for these objects, in every case.
Article written by Dan Bilefsky, and published by the New York Times.
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