Opinions
Patrimony of cultural artifacts
Recep Guvelioglu
rguvelioglu@thenewanatolian.com
26 June 2006

The matter of stolen artifacts and looted historical treasures has
been one of the most important and ongoing issues in Turkey. When I
visited the Ephesus Museum in Vienna and the Pergamum (Bergama) Museum
in Berlin, and saw many artifacts from Anatolia at the Louvre, the
British Museum and Dumbarton Oaks, my first reaction was to curse at
the looters and the international system that gives an opportunity to
looters and thieves. But when I learned that the Germans dug an
enormous shelter for the Pergamum Altar during World War II to protect
it from bombings and all the other museums took similar measures, my
view changed quickly. Even though Turkey lost those unique historical
treasures, at least humanity possessed them. Today many people from
all around the world can visit these museums. In addition, what
happened to some of the historical treasures in Turkey is well
known. The Greek columns of Side, for instance, were burned just to
get lime to build brick houses.

We have made many mistakes regarding historical artifacts, and there
are many reasons for our cultural loss. It would take at least five of
these weekly columns to discuss them all. The primary reason is our
legal system: Our laws and judicial practices. Turkey holds a treasure
trove of antiquities to protect, which is why many laws and codes were
adopted.

Yet time has proven that that system does not work.

The most famous law to preserve our cultural heritage is the "Kultur
ve Tabiat Varliklarini Koruma Yasasi" (Code of Protection of Cultural
and Natural Property, or the code of antiquities). Under this law any
ruin, artifact or cultural finding discovered falls under the state’s
patrimony and it needs to be reported to the authorities, such as
museum directors. Afterwards you have several options:
The director might be corrupt and want to have the artifacts for
himself. He might offer you one percent of its real value and threaten
to throw you in jail for illegal excavation if you don’t comply.

Let’s say the director is decent, yet he might still threaten to give
it to "the state," in which case you will receive a paltry
compensation. In either case, you’re in trouble¦ If you decide not to
inform the authorities, you have to find a middle man to sell this
merchandise. The middle man would certainly deceive you, and if the
artifact is quite valuable you might even be murdered.

The last option is to try selling the artifact abroad, which leads to
the same problem.

The bottom line of the matter is the issue of the patrimony of
humanity’s past. Robbers destroy and loot temples and tombs. In the
eyes of ordinary people, they are cursed criminals. Some people
purchase mankind’s oldest and most exquisite creations and are proud
of their efforts; these private collectors, commercial dealers, and
museum curators view themselves as temporary caretakers of treasures.

However, collectors’ demands for these objects have created incentives
for looters to pillage archaeological sites.

"Cultural patrimony" is the question of who has the right to own and
exhibit humanity’s aesthetic and archaeological treasures.

It’s a three-sided debate. On one side, there are "internationalists":
Academics, dealers and collectors who advocate the regulated market as
the best way to protect antiquities. The second group believes that
cultural patrimony is linked to a group of people’s identity. "Our
cultural heritage tells us who we are." These "nationalists" generally
call for a trade that is limited, heavily regulated and open to public
scrutiny. The third party consists of archaeologists and scholars who
say that trading uproots cultural artifacts from their original place,
rendering them useless for scientific study.

The nationalists’ and archaeologists’ non-liberal amalgam of
nationalism and anti-capitalist mentality goes back to the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO)
1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit
Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. It is
the first major international agreement to protect cultural property
from thieves and smugglers.

Actually it’s hard to say who’s right in the debate. In Turkey’s case,
with the current judicial system, which doesn’t give Turkish citizens
any right to buy any artifacts, and with the problems of museums which
have became like unprotected storage houses, the nationalistic
approach seems to have lost the game.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress