In the dispute over the art treasures from the Parthenon Temple in Athens, Greece has received high-caliber support against Great Britain: Turkey has now come to the aid of the Greek government and denied the British claim that the marble sculptures from the Acropolis were exported to London with the permission of the Ottoman Empire. There is no such decree from the Ottoman government, explained the head of the Turkish Office for Combating Cultural Smuggling, Zeynep Boz, at a meeting of the UNESCO Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property in Paris.
The Greek government welcomed the Turkish expert’s comments as confirmation of its position in the dispute with Great Britain, which escalated into a crisis last year. The new development in the dispute is also likely to be of interest to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, whose claim to the Pergamon Altar and other Anatolian cultural assets is disputed by Turkey.
As the legal successor to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey is in possession of all archives from that period, Zeynep Boz told the Tagesspiegel newspaper; historians have searched these archives for years, but an export permit for the Parthenon friezes has never been found.
Greece has been demanding the return since 1835
The sculptures, which date back to the 5th century BC, were removed from the Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens at the beginning of the 19th century by the British diplomat Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin, and shipped to London, where they were later purchased by the British Museum. Elgin cited an alleged authorization from the Ottoman Empire, to which Greece belonged at the time. However, experts have only one Italian document to date, “which bears neither a signature nor a seal or stamp,” said Boz; a legally valid document has never been found.
Greece has been demanding the return of the Parthenon’s art treasures from Britain since its independence in 1835, but so far to no avail. The almost 200-year-old dispute led last autumn to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelling a planned meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to avoid having to talk about the Parthenon.
The turning point in the dispute came at the end of May at a meeting of the UNESCO committee in Paris, when Zeynep Boz intervened after a speech by a British participant. “I could not remain silent,” said Boz about the speech, which presented the British acquisition of the Parthenon sculptures as legal and referred to a corresponding Ottoman decree. “I had to make it clear: we do not know of any such document.” Boz is an archaeologist and head of department in the Turkish Ministry of Culture, where she is responsible, among other things, for the return of illegally stolen cultural assets from Anatolia to Turkey.
There is also a need for discussion with Berlin
Greece welcomed their intervention. The representative of Turkey confirmed at the UNESCO meeting what Greece has been saying for years, the news agency AP quoted Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni as saying: “There was never an Ottoman decree that allowed Count Elgin to treat the Parthenon sculptures so brutally.” Greece will continue to strive for the return of the sculptures, for which a place is being reserved in the Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Like Greece, Turkey is demanding the return of cultural assets from the time of the Ottoman Empire from several countries, including Germany and Austria. Ankara is casting doubt on the German position that the Pergamon Altar was brought to Berlin with the permission of the Ottoman authorities. Boz told the Tagesspiegel that documents had been found in the archives that contradicted the German argument; according to this, at least parts of the altar were brought to Berlin before permission was granted.
Boz said that she has so far been waiting in vain for the requested statement from Germany on these new findings. In addition, her ministry has been waiting for ten years for an invitation from Berlin to the next round of expert talks on the return of a number of cultural assets, including a statue from ancient Aphrodisias in western Turkey and a sarcophagus from Konya. If bilateral efforts continue to be unsuccessful, Turkey will appeal to UNESCO to demand the return of its cultural assets.