Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Ümit Enginsoy
WASHINGTON - Hürriyet Daily News
Panelists at a congressional body here have claimed that hundreds of churches have been attacked and thousands of Greek Cypriot and other religious and archaeological pieces looted in Turkish Cyprus over the past 35 years.
The panel on “the destruction of Cyprus’ cultural heritage” put the blame mainly on Turkish and Turkish Cypriot authorities.
The panel was held at the U.S. Helsinki Commission, whose members primarily include senators and other lawmakers, with the support of the commission’s two co-chairs, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin and Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings, on Tuesday.
Panelists included Greek historian Charalapos Chotzakoglu, German historian Klaus Gallas and American journalist and author Michael Jansen, all of whom said that the island’s cultural heritage had been devastated in what they called “the Turkish-occupied north.”
There was no panelist reflecting the views of the Turkish side or providing information on its behalf. The panel took place one day after the 35th anniversary of the Turkish intervention in Cyprus, conducted to protect Turkish Cypriots in the wake of a Greek-inspired coup aimed at annexing the island for Greece.
Accusations of art theft
“An estimated 16,000 icons, wall paintings and mosaics and 60,000 archaeological items have been looted and exported from northern Cyprus. The Turkish authorities have done little or nothing to halt cultural cleansing and have even contributed to it,” Jansen said, adding that some individual Turkish Cypriots, who “regard the heritage of the island as their own, have castigated the authorities and publicized the pillage.”
Added Gallas: “Art theft in [Turkish Cyprus] was usually only possible when it was tolerated or happened under the watchful eye of the Turkish military.”
Chotzakoglu said that around 500 churches and religious sites belonging to various Christian sects had been “willfully desecrated, pillaged, looted and destroyed.”
Chris Smith, a Republican congressman, said in a note sent to the panel that Greek Cypriot cemeteries in the north also had been desecrated.
“This was like a kangaroo court, an extremely one-sided event, which apparently was designed solely to chastise the Turkish side and to carry out Greek Cypriot propaganda,” said one Turkish official.
The U.S. Helsinki Commission is an independent agency of the federal government, which primarily monitors human rights and democracy in 56 Eurasian countries.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php? ... 2009-07-22
