Turkey Increases Pressure on International Museums to Return Antiquities

This metalwork vessel, dating to the 14th century BC, is one of 18 objects Turkish officials have asked to be returned from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Photo: Peter Roan

The grand opening of what Turkey plans to be the “biggest museum in the world” may be more than a decade away (the republic celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023), but the country’s government appears eager to recover what it says are illegally excavated antiquities from institutions around the world.
According to a recent report in the Los Angeles Times, Turkish officials have asked several American institutions, including the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to return dozens of antiquities allegedly looted from the country’s archaeological sites.  Turkey, which believes the antiquities were smuggled out of the country following a 1906 law that gave the state ownership of all in-ground antiquities, has presented the museums with supporting evidence and threatened to halt all loans of art to those institutions until they respond to the claims.
American museums’ antiquities collections have come under intense scrutiny in recent years, with increasing evidence tying housed artifacts to black market trading.  Turkey’s most recent demands follow last September’s resolution of a 20-year dispute that saw Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts return the top half of the 1,800-year-old “Weary Herakles” statue to Turkish officials, acknowledging that it was purchased unwittingly from looters.  Hundreds of more artifacts have been returned recently to Italy and Greece for similar reasons.
American institutions are not Turkey’s only focus, however.  According to an op-ed by Owen Matthews, Newsweek’s Bureau Chief in Istanbul, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has “resorted to ever-more aggressive measures, from threatening to suspend the excavation licenses of foreign archaeological teams to blocking the export of museum exhibits,” in hopes of recovering ancient Anatolian artifacts from foreign museums.
After threatening last fall to shut down DAI excavations that have been ongoing for more than 130 years (the German government finally agreed to return a 3,500-year-old Hittite Sphinx), Turkish officials revoked the license of a French archaeological team that had been working at Xanthos and handed it over to a Turkish team. (The country has been lobbying for the return of several 16th-century tiles from the Louvre.)
As Matthews points out, Turkey’s hard-line stance is somewhat undermined by its disregard for sites like Allianoi, the world’s best-preserved Roman bath and spa complex, and the ancient city of Hasankeyf, both of which were destroyed as a result of government-authorized dam projects.  He also describes the systematic looting of tombs by local robbers who are rarely caught.
While Matthews suggests that Turkey’s energies may be better spent guarding its existing artifacts, its claims over the properties in question are no doubt valid.  The ownership questions surrounding antiquities in international museums are not likely to be resolved any time soon, especially as developing countries begin to understand the value of their cultural heritage and work to protect it.