Tag: Antiquities

Turkey: US Man Gets Suspended Smuggling Sentence

A lawyer says an American tourist who picked up stones during a beach holiday in Turkey has received a one-year suspended sentence for attempting to smuggle historical artifacts.

Jason Dement from Purvis, Mississippi, was briefly detained in April at an airport near the Mediterranean coast because two pieces inside a bag of collected stones appeared to be artifacts. Experts later said the stones were from the Roman era.

Lawyer Fatma Zuhre Akinci said Friday a court convicted Dement of attempted smuggling and gave him a suspended sentence. He would serve it only if he reoffends in Turkey within five years.

Dement, 30, was scheduled to fly to Germany, where he works at a U.S. army base.

Turkey has broad definitions about what constitute historical artifacts and strict anti-smuggling laws.

via Turkey: US Man Gets Suspended Smuggling Sentence – ABC News.

May 11, 2013
US tourist faces jail in Turkey for collecting beach ‘stones’

An American tourist who collected stones during a six-day beach holiday with his wife was briefly detained in Turkey and faces trial for attempting to smuggle historical artifacts, he said on Wednesday.

Jason Dement was taken into custody by security officials at Antalya airport, near Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, on Sunday because two of the pieces inside a bag of stones appeared to be artifacts. On Monday, a court released him from custody but barred him from leaving Turkey.

His lawyer said Dement, 30, from Purvis, Mississippi, faces prosecution under strict Turkish laws against the smuggling of artifacts. Turkey has broad definitions about what constitutes historical artifacts and Fatma Zuhre Akinci, the lawyer, said a museum report confirmed the pieces picked out by the security officials to be artifacts.

The report, cited in court papers, did not say precisely what the pieces may have been or say how old they may be, Akinci said.

Dement said he and his wife, Sheila, have a habit of collecting stones as souvenirs. One of stones was a triangular-shaped rough marble piece that looked as though it came from a modern building.

The other was a slanted, 5-inch long, brick-colored piece that had been washed by the sea and looked like it could have been old masonry.

“It had no inscription,” Dement told The Associated Press by telephone from a hotel in Antalya. “It came from an ordinary beach. There were no historical sites around, no ancient ruins.”

Dement, a former soldier, is a civilian employee at the Katterbach U.S. Army base in Germany. His wife, who is also employed at the base was not detained and was allowed to board the plane for Germany on Sunday.

On a blog he created seeking help to cover his costs while in Turkey, Dement said: “The judge is awaiting an official report from a museum historian that will weigh in on the true value of the ‘artifact’ …. and this will be a huge factor in the next phase of my court struggle.”

The punishment for smuggling ancient artifacts is up to 12 years in prison.

via US tourist faces jail in Turkey for collecting beach ‘stones’ | Fox News.

April 19, 2013
Dispute Heats Up between Germany and Turkey over Contested Artifacts

German museums and archaeologists fear that Turkey is punishing them for not repatriating contested artifacts. In a SPIEGEL interview, Turkish Culture Minister Ömer Çelik explains why Turkey is demanding both the artifacts and an apology.

A dispute is heating up between Turkey and Western countries, with ancient artifacts at stake. On one side, Ankara vehemently insists museums, including German ones, should return valuable archaeological treasures that Turkey alleges are wrongly in their possession. German archaeologists, on the other hand, refuse categorically to comply, saying the disputed items entered German collections legally, most of them over a century ago.

This battle over antiquities is affecting relations between the two countries. High-ranking officials at major museums in Berlin say the Turkish government has broken agreements concerning cooperation between the countries and is deliberately making it harder for German archaeologists to work in Turkey. The latter are worried that, in 2013, they may for the first time be denied coveted excavation permits.

Speaking with SPIEGEL last year, Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which oversees the state-owned museums in Berlin, harshly criticized the Turkish government. “Much is being lost because Turkey doesn’t have an established system for preserving historical artifacts, as Germany does,” Parzinger said. He also accused Ankara of increasing arrogance, saying that cultural heritage “is the last thing they think about.”

Parzinger’s comments provoked outrage in Turkey. “His message is: ‘They have no idea what they’re doing and don’t take care of things, so we’ll take care of them instead for the sake of the common good,’” raged the Turkish daily Hürriyet.

Now Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, 44, responds in a SPIEGEL interview to Parzinger’s criticism. Çelik took office in January and is seen as a close confidant of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the country’s conservative, Islamic governing party. Just as his predecessor did, Çelik is calling for the return of archaeological artifacts originating in Turkey. The objects would find a new home in Ankara’s Museum of the Civilizations. Planned as the world’s largest museum building, this facility is to open its doors in 2023, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish state.

SPIEGEL: Minister Çelik, during your recent trip to Berlin, you visited the Pergamon Altar, one of the main attractions at the city’s Museum Island. Do you believe the altar belongs here in Berlin or in Turkey, where it was discovered by German archaeologist Carl Humann in the 19th century?

Çelik: The Pergamon Altar is an important piece of our global cultural heritage. As a matter of principle, it’s preferable that cultural artifacts be displayed in the place from which they come. International laws concerning the preservation of such cultural treasures stipulate as much

via Dispute Heats Up between Germany and Turkey over Contested Artifacts – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/dispute-heats-up-between-germany-and-turkey-over-contested-artifacts-a-888398.html

March 15, 2013
Icelander in prison in Turkey

Machine Translation from Icelandic to English

David Orn Bjarnason, 28-year-old Icelander living in Sweden, was on Friday arrested in Turkey. Turkish authorities accuse him of smuggling antiquities; that will go through the land of marble stone, which he bought in a market in Turkey. Thora Birgisdóttir, wife of David, said his wait three to ten years in prison and eight to 24 million penalty. David will be brought before a judge in Turkey tomorrow.

“I’m really numb and do not know properly how I feel. This is like the movie and I thought this sort of thing could not happen to someone, “says Thor standing in Sweden. “I just want to hear him and know how he feels, samviskubitið is killing me over to go to sleep right here in our bed every night without any idea whether that be to beat him out there. I do not even know if he has a bed! I do not know anything! All out of some damn rock! I do not know if I get to see him again, and how tough it is out there. I have to say to a four-year-old boy in our father would not come home and the boy refuses to go on the plane with her grandparents. Daddy is not coming home. ”

Roared them on police station

Thora says he does not know if she can go out to meet him, “if there is a warrant of arrest against me or what. We just wait and see how he gets on the court tomorrow. Agent has done nothing to help us. The guide, which is equipped, just came and yelled at us in the police station we should have to present us with rules governing the country. He was just a talker and bored and so he did just that. He helped us nothing. I do not know how prisons are out there and this uncertainty damages the person. ”

From Turkey. AFP

Thora and David Orn were reportedly dry for a trip to Turkey with a travel agent Tom Travel. Included in the trip was a tour guide, hotels and more. “We went by way of the narrator in our view based Romans. Since we bought this stone for any woman in any of these markets, which are at this point. David has always been interested in history and wanted to acquire such a stone, “said Thora.

“We never thought that we could not buy this and take us out of the country. The guide who was with us never mentioned it. When we went up to the airport took us through the bag description before tékkuðum us into. Then a policeman came and went between me and David, and they took away the stone. From there I went with us to the police station where we waited for an hour, “said Thora.

“You can go – he will remain”

“When we went to ask about why we were kept, we were told that they were to evaluate the stone. So, I was ordered to go on a plane and leave David behind. We had child care for our children, three in Sweden who were self flight to Iceland so we had to get home to our children. Then the police officer handed me my pass and said, “You may go. He must leave. “I had then just take the bag and leave David behind. He was talking to his mom for 20 seconds on the phone, the phone was ripped from him in this Turkish prison he is. All he could say was that it was prepared to mistreat him and that he did nothing that was said to him and knew nothing of what he was in prison. ”

The Foreign Ministry had reportedly Thora interpreter to call the prison and then was able to talk to him and calm him a bit. “Then he went before a judge, where everyone expected that he would get a fine and able to go, but the judge said he should go to jail and that tomorrow (Monday) would be doomed if he went on a three to ten years imprisonment or would have to pay eight to 24 million in fines. So we are just waiting to get to know how big the shock will be, “said Thora.

“I do not know how prisons are there, I do not know how many he’s in a cell, I do not know if he’s been beaten up or if he has a bed to sleep on. Foreign Ministry knows basically nothing and gets nothing to know. David’s parents are coming to Sweden to attend the two youngest of our children, so I just have to pack up the apartment and cancel the job and go back to Iceland. I should not be here and is just one and you need all the support you gain under such circumstances. ”

Thora says that all who were with them on the trip was in shock and not understand why it would have reacted that.

Will be charged with smuggling

“The report we received from the Foreign Office said he is charged with smuggling of Antiquities. We were not smuggling anything. The stone was near the top of luggage panniers so it’s completely crazy that we intended to smuggle something. Are there tour operators to work like this, it locks people into the country and sell it as something it can not buy to make a little, and see behind innocent people in jail, “said Thora.

“I am one of three children and I can not pay the fines, which he could get. I own nothing. No one will ever lend me anything. I just do what I have with me right now. He needs the book to attend this off. ”

Not only “marble case”

Flag of Turkey. AP

Anna Lilja Þórisdóttir
[email protected]

Incidents such as what happened in Turkey on Friday, when the Icelandic man was arrested and brought into custody because he planned to take a marble stone of the country, seem fairly frequent, but we simply search online you can find some similar examples.

As far as can be found not sell Icelandic travel agency package tours to Turkey, but the Norwegian travel wish-Travel sells trips from here to the Turkish riviera. Icelander, David Orn Bjarnason, on behalf of the German travel agency Travel Tom.

According to data from the Office Wanted-Travel in Iceland, the company has sold Norwegians Turkey Tours for years. It is not specifically stated to them that there buying trips to Turkey not to take stones from the land, provided that no traveling by their experienced a similar situation.

“This is not something we feel we need to specify,” says spokesman wish-Travel.

In terms of the travel company says that a traveler duty to enforce the regulations in the country and go in terms of Icelandic travel agency generally provides that a passenger is obliged to comply with laws and regulations of public authorities in the countries where they travel.

Some have experienced a similar situation and David

We simply search online found a few reports of travelers who have been in similar situations and David. For example, had a four-person Chinese family to spend six more days in Antalaya in Turkey last year after they wanted to go with a marble stone of the country. Stone they had bought at the market. There was a young Spaniard arrested at the airport in Antalya in Turkey last summer after two marble stones were found in his luggage.

The same can be said about the Swedish diplomat who had planned to go with a small marble stone out of the country last spring. There was a Swiss police officer arrested last summer when the stone was found in his bag.

via Icelander in prison in Turkey – mbl.is.

March 11, 2013
Dallas museum returns looted mosaic to Turkey

Posted at 6:48 pm in Similar cases

Yet again, Turkey is in the news with a resolved restitution case. This time, it involves the Dallas Museum of Art. Interestingly though, the museum was the one that contacted Turkey after discovery that the artefact might have been looted – although whether this was as a pre-emptive move, knowing that they would be contacted by Turkey about it is unclear.

From:
Culture Kiosque

DALLAS MUSEUM RETURNS LOOTED MOSAIC TO TURKEY
By Culturekiosque Staff

DALLAS, TEXAS, 3 DECEMBER 2012 — The Dallas Museum of Art today signed a memorandum of understanding with the Turkish Director General for Cultural Heritage and Museums O. Murat Süslü, marking the first initiative in the Dallas Museum of Art’s new DMX international exchange program. DMX (Dallas Museum Exchange) is designed to establish international collaborations for the loan of works of art and sharing of expertise in conservation, exhibitions, education, and new media.

The DMA contacted Turkish officials earlier this year when the Museum discovered evidence that a work in the collection — the Orpheus Mosaic — might have been stolen from an archaeological site in Turkey. With the Museum’s planning for the DMX program already underway, the DMA’s engagement with Turkey regarding the mosaic opened the lines of communication that led to Turkey becoming the Museum’s first partner in the DMX program. As part of today’s ceremony for the signing of the MOU, the DMA returned the Orpheus Mosaic to the Turkish officials. The Republic of Turkey considers the voluntary return of the mosaic a sign of good faith, and both parties will undertake to continue their collaboration with museological education, conservation, symposia, and important loan exhibitions.

Under the leadership of Maxwell L. Anderson, who joined the Dallas Museum of Art as The Eugene McDermott Director in January 2012, the DMA has launched a number of initiatives in addition to the DMX program: the new Friends & Partners membership program; a program in paintings conservation; a new staff appointment in the field of Islamic art; and a Laboratory for Museum Innovation with seed capital to develop collaborative pilot projects in the areas of collection access, visitor engagement, and digital publishing. The Museum is also at work to link the Dallas Arts District — the nation’s largest — with other cultural districts worldwide. The initiatives grow out of Anderson’s vision to deepen relationships with audiences at home and abroad, a belief in promoting cross-cultural exchange, and a commitment to developing new models for international collaboration that extends back to his first museum directorship in 1987, when he headed the Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta.

“As arts organizations in the United States and around the world address questions regarding cultural heritage, I have long believed there is a crucial opportunity to shift the terms of these discussions from an adversarial to a collaborative approach,” said Anderson. “We initiated the conversation with Turkish officials in this spirit, and the agreement with Turkey to become the Museum’s first partner in the DMX program speaks to the possibilities inherent in this approach to international cultural exchange. We are honored and excited to enter into this agreement with our Turkish colleagues and look forward to our ongoing partnership.”

“We are proud to be the first partner in the Dallas Museum of Art’s new Dallas Museum Exchange program, and to share the rich cultural heritage and artistic achievements of the Turkish people with the people of Texas and the United States,” said O. Murat Süslü, Director General for Cultural Heritage and Museums. “We also want to express our appreciation to the Museum for its ethical perspective during negotiations regarding the Orpheus Mosaic. With actual photos of the looting in progress that we were able to present, it could not be clearer that this ancient work was stolen from its archaeological site. We are very pleased the mosaic will return to Turkey, and equally pleased to enter this ongoing relationship with the Dallas Museum of Art. ”

The Orpheus Mosaic originally decorated the floor of a Roman building near Edessa, in what is modern-day Turkey. The work dates from A.D. 194 and measures 64 3/4 inches by 60 inches. It depicts the mythic poet Orpheus playing his lyre as he sits on a rock surrounded by wild animals, which are tamed by the magic power of his music. According to myth, Orpheus used his lyre to gain entry to the underworld, where he went in search of his dead wife, Eurydice.

The mosaic was purchased by the DMA in 1999 at public auction. Funds for the purchase were the gift of David T. Owsley via the Alconda-Owsley Foundation, and two anonymous donors, in honor of Nancy B. Hamon.

This year the Museum uncovered information indicating that the work might have been stolen from its archaeological site. The DMA alerted Turkish officials that the work was in the Museum’s collection and requested information on whether the object had been illegally removed from that country. Additional conclusive photographic evidence provided by Turkey documented the looting of the mosaic, proving the work had been stolen, and the DMA offered to restitute the work. The work was returned at a ceremony marking the signing of an agreement between the DMA and Turkey for ongoing collaboration as the first partnership in the Museum’s new DMX program.

In October the DMA announced the appointment of Sabiha Al Khemir as the Museum’s first Senior Advisor of Islamic Art. Dr. Al Khemir, the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, will support Anderson and senior staff in building the Museum’s DMX partnerships. Dr. Al Khemir will also travel worldwide to further the Museum’s connections with the great collections of Islamic art across the world. The arts of Indonesia and the Philippines will be a particular focus, to complement and enhance the DMA’s collection strength in this area.

March 7, 2013
Cleopatra’s half-sister found in Turkey ruins

An Austrian archeologist believes that bones found at a Turkish historical site are those of Cleopatra’s half-sister Arsinoe IV.

Princess Arsinoe was murdered about 2000 years ago by assassins sent by Cleopatra.

The woman’s skull was found in 1926 in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, which is now in modern Turkey.

Archeologists found it in a burial chamber on the site, known as the Octagon but it later disappeared during the Second World War.

In 1985, Hilke Thuer, of the Austrian Academy of Science, found the rest of the bones, which she has maintained belonged to Cleopatra’s sister.

Now new techniques may be able to determine whether the controversial claim is true.

Critics say the bones are of someone too young to be Arsinoe, reported the Daily Mail.

Arsinoe was exiled to Ephesus by her sister, who saw her as a threat to her power.

More from GlobalPost: 18 ancient Odyssey mosaics stolen in Syria: minister

Cleopatra convinced her husband Mark Antony to have the girl murdered in 41 BC, said Live Science.

Both were members of the Ptolemaic empire, a legacy of Alexander the Great’s conquests.

Despite some setbacks, the archeologist believes she will one day be able to make a definite conclusion.

“They tried to make a DNA test, but testing didn’t work well because the skeleton had been moved and the bones had been held by a lot of people. It didn’t bring the results we hoped to find,” Thuer told the News Observer.

“I don’t know if there are possibilities to do more of this testing. Forensic material is not my field. One of my colleagues on the project told me two years ago there currently is no other method to really determine more. But he thinks there may be new methods developing. There is hope.”

Thuer’s theory will be explained during a lecture this week at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh.

via Cleopatra’s half-sister found in Turkey ruins | GlobalPost.

February 28, 2013