"Beyond Diplomacy: Protecting the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus"

Originally published in Eugene T. Rossides and Van Coufoudakis (eds.). The United States & Cyprus: Double Standards and the Rule of Law. American Hellenic Institute Foundation Inc. ©2002.

One of the saddest aspects of the twenty-five year Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus is the widespread looting and destruction of art and cultural objects that has taken place within the occupied area.

Cyprus, as is well known, is the home of vast amounts of cultural treasures, particularly Byzantine objects dating from as long ago as the 4th century A.D.

What is particularly disturbing about the fate of most of these treasures is that they were not subject to random acts of vandalism and destruction; rather, it is now clear that many objects were targeted for theft, illicit export and eventual sale into the international art market.

Turkey must bear a heavy responsibility for allowing these acts of looting and profiteering. More than 500 churches, museums and private collections have all but disappeared. Looting and destruction on such a systematic scale could only have occurred with the official sanction of Turkish occupation authorities.

Unfortunately, the international response to the looting and destruction in Cyprus has been slow and disjointed. Unlike the situation in Kuwait, where the United Nations immediately launched an effort to recover objects stolen from the national museum by the Iraqis, Cyprus has been left on its own to locate and recover its stolen heritage.

This history played itself out in the case I handled for the Church of Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus. Just ten years ago, fragments of the world-famous Kanakaria mosaics showed up in the United States in the possession of an Indianapolis art dealer. U.S. Customs refused to seize them, even though they were obviously stolen from Cyprus and illegally being offered for sale. The church of Cyprus was forced to act on its own and brought a civil case in which we were completely successful in recovering these valuable Byzantine mosaics. The decision is a significant one, because it holds that the Church of Cyprus remains the owner of its property in the occupied area, even when that property is taken down and brought to the U.S., in spite of the war and the systematic looting. The case also held that because the Church was diligent in searching for its stolen cultural objects, the statute of limitations did not begin to run and Cyprus could recover objects stolen ten years earlier, even though Indiana had a six-year statute of limitations.

There is a painful irony here. More recently, Turkey itself has been very active in litigation here in the United States trying to recover objects stolen from archeological sites in Turkey. Of course, one of the most prominent cases that Turkey cites in its legal briefs in U.S. courts is the case of the Kanakaria mosaics in which Cyprus recovered objects that Turkey allowed to be stolen in the first place.

Today, the situation is somewhat improved.

• Cypriot authorities, working with Bavarian police in Munich have seized vast quantities of objects looted from Cyprus and taken to Munich for eventual sale.
• The U.S. Information Agency has issued an import restriction on Byzantine objects from Cyprus, banning their importation into the United States unless each object is accompanied by an export certificate from the Republic of Cyprus.

Still, there is much to do. Twenty-five years of looting and destruction can never be fully redressed, and much effort is required to remedy a single wrong. In the first instance, the burden is on Turkey to protect the remaining cultural objects in the occupied area and also to account for the looting and destruction it has allowed. The world community, as well, owes it to Cyprus, home of so much of the world’s Byzantine heritage, to assist Cyprus in recovering its stolen treasures by preventing the trade in stolen objects from Cyprus so that these objects can come home.