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8 J. Art Crime 99 (2012)
The Hattusa Sphinx and Turkish Antiquities Repatriation Efforts

handle is hein.journals/jartcrim8 and id is 104 raw text is: Aaron Haines The Hattusa Sphinx and Turkish Antiquities Repatriation Efforts On March 1 of 2012, Art News journalist Martin Bailey reported that the Turkish government had prohibited the loan of cultural artifacts to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism stated that these museums have artifacts that were illegally removed from Turkey, and that the ban would be removed once the contested objects were returned. Soon it was discovered that Turkey had given the ultimatum to many other museums, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, Dumbarton Oaks, the Museum of Art at Bowling State University, the Louvre Museum, and the Berlin Pergamon Museum. Turkey has prohibited exhibition loans to any of these museums until the requested objects have been returned. Turkey has been petitioning for the return of most of these artifacts for many years, but most often these petitions have come in the form of simple requests. This is the first time that the country has made such a widespread and forceful demand. This should not come as a surprise, in light of recent events regarding Turkey's repatriation efforts. Of particular importance was its recovery of the Hattusa Sphinx, returned last year from the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Turkey was forceful with Germany, and the two countries were able to quickly come to an agreement. This success emboldened Turkey and gave it the necessary confidence to use forceful tactics with other reluctant countries and institutions that own contested objects. Exploring the motivations and actions of both parties involved with the Hattusa Sphinx will shed further light on why Turkey recently enforced this ban and what their plans are for the future. The situation involving the Hattusa Sphinx began in the early 19th century, when the first German archaeologists arrived in Turkey and were given permission by the Ottoman Empire to excavate a number of sites. In 1907, a pair of sphinxes was found at the Hittite capital of Hattusa, where they had been part of a gate complex. They were in poor condition, due to a fire which had caused them to shatter to pieces. Both sphinxes were taken back to Berlin where they were cleaned, restored, and reassembled by expert European archaeologists. After making a plaster mold of the statue, Germany sent the better-preserved of the two sphinxes back to Turkey, but kept the other sphinx for their collection. It, and the plaster copy of its sister statue, were eventually built into the wall of the Pergamon Museum. In 1938, the Turkish government asked for the return of the sphinx, but their petition fell upon deaf ears. The Turkish government and the Hattusa museum continued to ask for its return throughout the century, but Germany continued to ignore their requests. During the 1980s, Turkey began to be more aggressive in repatriating its ostensibly-stolen artifacts, and did much more than simply ask for their return, as they had done with the Hattusa Sphinx. They began to file lawsuits against those countries and museums that would not cooperate or return the debated artifacts. They were successful in recovering many artifacts, coins, and mosaics from museums and private collectors. They continued their pursuit into the 1990s, and were successful in recovering significant works of art, such as the Lydian Hoard from the New York Metropolitan Museum. Turkey's repatriation efforts increased even more in 2002 when the Adalet ve Kalkainma Partisti (Justice and Development Party or AKP) came to power in the Turkish govermnent. The country was on the brink of economic ruin, but the AKP was able to turn the situation around, and make Turkey's economy one of the fastest growing in the world. Cultural heritage became a high priority, and the government increased funding given to archaeological excavations. In 2000, before the AKP came to power, the government had only given one million US dollars to archeological excavations but, by 2010, this annual funding had increased to 20 million US dollars.' The AKP also appointed Ertugrul Glinay as the Minister of Culture and Tourism, and he has increased Turkey's aggressive repatriation efforts even more, as is seen in the case of the Hattusa Sphinx. The original agreement concerning the two sphinxes sent for restoration is unclear, so it would have been difficult for Turkey to take the case to court, as they had done to recover the Lydian Hoard. Also the Lydian Hoard cost a great deal, in time and money and legal disputes. The Turkish government decided to use a different tactic to retrieve the sphinx. In February 2011, they asked for the return of the sphinx and 1 Turkey expects Germany to return Hattusa Sphinx. World Bulletin. 9 March 2011. http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticlelD=70840 99

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