Turkey's "Art War", their Battle to Repatriate Antiquities

Matthias Schulz 'Art War': Turkey Battles to Repatriate Antiquities Speigel July 20, 2012

A resurgent Turkey has launched a concerted effort to get cultural artifacts back from museums around the world. Although many museums deny that their objects were illegally obtained, Ankara is playing hardball by threatening to ban loans and revoke excavation permits. [...] Once decried as the "sick man of the Bosporus," the nation has regrouped and emerged as a powerhouse. Turkey's political importance is growing, and its economy is booming. In cultural matters, however, Turkey remains a lightweight. To right this deficiency, the government plans to build a 25,000-square-meter (270,000-square-foot) "Museum of the Civilizations" in the capital. "Ankara will proudly accommodate the museum," boasts Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Günay. "Our dream is the biggest museum in the world." [...]  Turkey envisions the giant new museum in Ankara as the crown jewel in its effort to embrace a multicultural past. Contracts for the project have already been signed, and organizers hope to open the new museum in 2023 so as to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The assertive and ambitious plan has caused a stir in Europe and the United States since Turkish officials also intend to fill their new display cases with treasures that they don't even own (yet), artifacts that were smuggled out of the country long ago.

Now Turkey wants these artifacts back from the museums which already own them.

An investigative committee in Ankara was recently reinforced with legal experts to wage what has been dubbed an "art war." The country has set itself "on a collision course with many of the world's leading museums," writes the British trade publication The Art Newspaper. [...]  The conflict is bound to become heated given the Turks' brusque and unrelenting behavior. "We don't want a dispute," says Culture Minister Günay. Nevertheless, he is threatening to impose a ban on loaning items to German museums and to expel foreign excavation teams if his request is ignored. 

Obviously therefore, archeologists have a vested interest in supporting the Turkish government's aggressive claims and reason enough to pursue an anti-collector and anti-museum campaign of their own. The Turkish government even has the nerve to threaten US  museums. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is being asked to surrender 10 of its most beautiful artifacts, Harvard's Dumbarton Oaks has its ownership of the precious Sion Treasure of 6th-century Byzantine liturgical silverware challenged. The Cleveland Museum of Art has been asked to return 22 objects (including "The Stargazer," a 5,000-year-old Cycladic marble figurine once owned by Nelson Rockefeller, as well as one of the oldest statues of Jesus Christ, which depicts him as a "good shepherd").  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the United States last year and took away a statue of Hercules from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts after a meeting behind closed doors. The Turkish government has demanded 18 objects from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York