King Croesus’s Golden Brooch to Be Returned to Turkey
26th November 2012
Though why the Turks should have any claim on it is beyond belief — they didn’t get to the area until a thousand years later. But I suppose it makes as much sense as pretending that the Arabs now ruling Egypt have a claim on the pyramids and their contents.
The Turkish culture minister, Ertugrul Günay, has announced that German officials have agreed to return the missing artefact, a brooch in the form of a winged seahorse, possibly as early as this year.
There’s an oxymoron for you — ‘Turkish Culture Minister’.
After an investigation the director of the museum, Kazim Akbiyikoglu, who had been instrumental in recovering the artefacts from the US, was arrested with 10 others. Akbiyikoglu admitted selling museum treasures to pay off gambling debts and was jailed for 13 years. He blamed his misfortune on an ancient curse said to afflict those who handle the treasure.
Don’t you just hate it when that happens?
Critics argue that foreign museums helped to preserve countless historical treasures from destruction or theft.
Oh, ya think? After all, it wasn’t the British who stored gunpowder in the Parthenon before it blew up — It was (wait for it) … the Turks! Yeah, really great defenders of cultural tradition in the areas they stole from the natives. But I guess Ward Churchill’s busy right now.