Türkiye “cancels” Elgin’s decree on Parthenon sculptures

Deconstructing one of Britain’s central arguments in favor of the remaining Parthenon statues in the British Museum, Turkey’s representative at the 24th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee on the Return of Cultural Property to Their Countries of Origin (ICPRCP) went on to say that it was not possible to know about Turkey, the empire’s successor state. Ottoman, “the existence of a document regulating the purchase” of sculptures.

Zeynep Boz, head of Turkey’s Anti-Human Trafficking Department, was referring to the Ottoman Empire document cited by the United Kingdom regarding the purchase of the Parthenon sculptures from Lord Elgin in 1816.

“We are not aware of any document that legitimizes this purchase, which was then made by the British colonialists, so I do not think there is any room to discuss its legality even under the law prevailing at that time. We wholeheartedly look forward to celebrating it,” the representative of Turkey said, according to “The return of the sculptors, because we believe it will signal a change in behavior towards protecting cultural assets and will be the strongest message that will be sent around the world,” Kathimerini newspaper reported.

United kingdom. He responded by repeating his position that Elgin had acted with the permission of the Ottoman authorities and in accordance with the firman delivered to him, of which an Italian translation survives, while London also spoke of a second permission, regarding the transfer of the Parthenon sculptures. in England.

Greece demands the return of the Parthenon sculptures and their permanent residence in Greece to complete the monument, especially after the establishment of the Acropolis Museum in the late 2000s.