Digging for the truth.
A reformed smuggler in the Aktepe tomb mound, from which 350 pieces were stolen.
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I
trust that future conquerors will learn . . . not to plunder cities they capture
and take advantage of the distress of other peoples to adorn their homelands.
Polybius,
Greek historian (c. 202-120 BC)
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Turkish
investigative journalist Özgen Acar has spent thirty years trailing art smugglers.
His findings have brought prestigious foreign museums to court and treasures back
home
As a journalist,
you have uncovered several art smuggling affairs. How did you first get involved?
I studied economics and political science at university. Archaeology is a hobby.
In July 1970, Peter Hopkirk, the Sunday Times correspondent, came to Turkey. He was
investigating a lead about the smuggling of an important treasure dating back to
the sixth century BC, from the reign of the last Lydian king, Croesus. We worked
together on this issue. The treasure had been purchased by the New York Metropolitan
Museum of Art (MET), then hidden in steel safes in the museum’s basement. If an internationally
famous institution such as the Met was working in tandem with smugglers, this deserved
media attention. As a result, I began more detailed investigations.
The Lydian hoard was returned to Turkey in 1993. What took so long?
First, the secrecy surrounding the Met intensified. Meanwhile, I continued to
meet with villagers and local officials in the region of the former Lydian kingdom.
I didn’t spend 16 years reporting on it, I just investigated and collected evidence.
If I had written on the topic, the Met would have postponed putting the treasure
on show. But they had to exhibit it sooner or later because some wealthy people had
paid around $1.7 million between 1966 and 1968 to secure the purchase of these pieces.
The Met finally exhibited 50 of the 350 pieces in the summer of 1984. I saw them
myself and having determined that they matched my rough descriptions, I continued
my investigations until 1986, when I published my findings in the Turkish newspaper
I work for. The Turkish government brought a suit against the museum in the New York
Federal Court. Six years later, the Met was forced to return the treasure.
Your investigations shed light on the inner workings of a smuggling network.
Four farmers had found the treasure in a tumulus [a tomb in a mound] in the province
of Usak. They sold it in Izmir to Ali Bayirlar, a prominent smuggler, who later sold
it to the owner of a New York antique gallery, John J. Klejman. Learning that these
villagers had made money from the treasure, neighbouring villagers decided to try
their luck. Around this time, two tumuli were stripped of their frescoes and these
were also sent to New York. I should stress that I’m still angry with the curator
of the Greek and Roman Department, Dietrich von Bothmer, who bought the treasure
for the Met. But if he hadn’t purchased the entire collection, it would have proved
impossible to bring the pieces together again.
Have Western museums and private collectors generally been as reluctant as the Met
to return stolen artefacts?
In the 1980s, the Antalya police caught a ring of smugglers. They had dug up
a hoard of Greek coins from the fifth century BC in Elmali. The Elmali hoard was
so important that it was later called the “Treasure of the Century.” There were 1,900
silver coins missing. I traced them to Edip Telli and Fuat Üzülmez, two
respected art dealers in Munich until my stories broke. They had links to Nevzat
Telli in London, who was involved in drug and antiquity smuggling beside his textile
business. The police and public prosecutors in these countries, however, made no
arrests, stating that “trading in antiquities was not a crime in their countries.”
I concluded that the hoard was in the possession of William Koch, one of the wealthiest
400 people in the U.S. Again, legal action went on for 10 years, until Koch, realizing
he would lose the case, returned the hoard to Turkey.
You have worked on many other cases since then...
Yes, and I won’t be out of business any time soon. Turkey’s heritage is under
threat, just as it is in Greece, Cyprus, Iraq, Syria, Iran, India, Cambodia or China.
There are more ancient Greek cities in Turkey than in Greece, and more Roman ones
than in Rome. The country has 50,000 villages, but 70,000 pre-Islamic sites. It is
very difficult, if not impossible, to assess accurately the monetary value of illegal
art trade. A major cultural foundation in New York calculated that in 1989, Americans
spent approximately $5 billion on works of art the previous year. Two billion dollars
of this was spent on smuggled, stolen or fake works of art. The total value of artefacts
smuggled from Turkey was estimated to run between $300 and 400 million. Only two
or three million, not even one percent, went to the Turkish looters.
From your experience, what are the most effective ways to prevent smuggling?
First of all, we have to change the buyer’s attitude. Court cases won by Turkey
have discouraged museums and collectors from buying smuggled works. They don’t want
the inconvenience of a court case, having their names in the newspapers and loosing
money. The Met paid $1.7 million for their collection and Koch $3.5 million for his.
They spent at least twice as much as this on legal expenses. Secondly, Turkey should
make agreements with museums in the purchasing countries. “Don’t buy smuggled works–
I’ll send you exhibitions on loan every three or four years.” As a matter of fact,
Turkey has sent as many as 35 exhibitions abroad in the last 15 years. The third
step is to expose the smuggling mafia with their international connections, and put
them out of business. Edip Telli, for example, has had to quit the smuggling business.
His brother in London was imprisoned for heroin smuggling. Several respected antiquity
dealers in the U.S. lost confidence in their business partners when they realized
that they were, in fact, dealing with smugglers.
Some of the artefacts you helped return to Turkey are Lydian, Greek and Roman. Are
they really part of Turkey’s heritage?
All those artefacts were made in Anatolia. Does the Euphronios Vase in the Met
belong to the Italians or the Greeks? It certainly doesn’t belong to the Americans.
The craftsmen who made it were Greek, but it’s part of Italian history. Instead of
thinking about national ownership, we need to consider ownership and protection in
the name of all humanity. Artefacts taken from Troy are now found in 42 different
museums all over the world. I don’t know how many are held in private collections.
How is it possible for a scholar to travel to all those 42 museums? If they were
exhibited in a museum near the ancient city of Troy, everyone would benefit from
it.
You have also done some work in Cyprus.
I helped to uncover the smuggling of frescoes and mosaics from Byzantine churches.
Once again, they are the common property of mankind. My articles about a Turkish
smuggler helped the Greek Cypriot Administration to secure the return of artefacts
from Indianapolis to Southern Cyprus. In London, I found two Korans that had been
stolen from a Turkish foundation on the Greek island of Rhodes. They were sent back.
I also came across Mycenean gold treasure in a New York gallery. I talked to diplomats
from the Greek embassy in Washington and advised them on the best way to secure their
return without incurring legal expenses.
What are you currently investigating?
I’ve been working on the “Weary Hercules” statue, half of which is in the Antalya
Museum [Turkey] while the other half is in the hands of private collectors. Unfortunately,
Bill Clinton, before leaving office, made Ms Shelby White, a co-owner of the statue,
a member of the official advisory group on preventing plundering. I’m also covering
the efforts of Turkish authorities to ensure the return of six gold pieces from the
Croesus treasure, now held by a gallery in France.
Have you ever been threatened?
Yes, I’ve received many threats by telephone. Once they even tried to kidnap
me when I was on summer holiday. I’ve been thrown out of many New York galleries
because they thought I was an undercover agent of the Turkish government. I have
also been taken to court on several occasions in Turkey. |
