Pasts returned: archaeological heritage repatriation policy in Turkey and the plans for a future nation

• Autor(a) principal: Teixeira, Maria Inês
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/11054
• topic: Archaeology; Repatriation; Turkey; Hittites; Germany; Artefacts; Museology; European union; Turkish politics; European relations; Arqueologia; Repatriação; Turquia; Hititas; Alemanha; Artefactos; Museologia; União Europeia; Política turca; Relações europeias

Archaeological heritage repatriation remains a critical topic in international media and raises complex questions surrounding national identity and notions of rightful ownership. Repatriation is defined as the return of an artefact to its country of origin after having been kept under the stewardship of a foreign museum. Over the last decade, Turkey played a central role due to its high number of requests for museums to return artefacts found in the Turkish soil. The case of the request for a Hittite sphinx from the Pergamon Museum in Berlin caused particular distress among European museums, largely because the strategy of the Turkish government to recover the artefact was based on threatening measures, rather than a predisposition for cooperation. This dissertation extends prior work written about the Hittite sphinx case, by shedding light on one particular aspect: the dream for a future Turkey rather than past conflict with Europe. I argue that Turkish archaeological heritage repatriation policy is a crucial tool for the construction of a future nation, and that the Hittite sphinx case is particularly useful for understanding the Turkish dream of acquiring autonomy in the international arena.