Turkey declaring "Art War" on leading World museums.

Turkey declaring "Art War" on leading World museums.(HD).Turkey is on a collision course with many of the world’s leading museums, as it is refusing exhibition loans because of ongoing antiquities claims, according to Britain-based The Art Newspaper.
Earlier, it was reported that Turkey was refusing to lend artifacts to leading Britain and American museums until the issue of disputed antiquities had been resolved.The Turkish culture ministry was not availbale for immediate comment on the issue.
 European museums that are also being targeted include the Louvre, Berlin’s Pergamon Museum, the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. In America, claims are being lodged against Metropolitan Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Museum of Art and Dumbarton Oaks.
Earlier, the Turkish government had contacted the Getty, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection to present evidence that objects in their collections may have been illegally excavated from the country’s archaeological sites, the Los Angeles Times reported last Saturday. It has threatened to halt all loans of art to these institutions until they respond to the claims. From Metropolitan Museum of Art, Turkey is claiming 18 items, all of which were donated by New York collector Herbert Schimmel in 1989. From Louvre, Turkey is claiming a set of important 1577 tiles from the mausoleum of Selim II in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, The Art Newspaper reported.Hmmmm..........Perhaps Europe should mention this: 

Cyprus Looting Overview

The looting of northern Cyprus by the Turkish forces has been described as “one of the most systematic examples of the looting of art since World War II” ^{[44] [45]}.
Archaeological sites, museums, churches, monasteries, castles, libraries, and private art collections have all been affected by the looting of the northern area of Cyprus; icons, frescoes, archaeological artifacts, and cultural heritage have been stripped from areas around the island and have been taken to places all over the world or simply destroyed ^[46].
Some believe that this has been done to ‘Turkify’ the northern region of the country and erase the characteristics of the Cypriot predecessors, while people like Aydin Dikmen have been working to make money off of cultural heritage artifacts by selling them in international markets ^{[47] [48]}.
The amount of destruction of Islamic sites and artifacts in the south is not even comparable to the looting and destruction of the north; previous Christian sites in the north have been destroyed or transformed for other uses, while the icons and mosaics have been dismantled into smaller pieces, helping them to deteriorate at a fast pace and eventually be lost forever.

1. ^ Morris, Chris. “Shame of Cyprus’s Looted Churches”. BBC News. 18 January 2002. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1768274.stm>.
2. ^ Miller, Judith, & Stephen Kinzer. “Greek Orthodox Church Icons Ravaged in the Turkish Part of Cyprus”. The New York Times. 1 April 1998. Web. 5 March 2012. < http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/01/world/greek-orthodox-church-icons-ravaged-in-the-turkish-part-of-cyprus.html?src=pm>.
3. ^ Jansen, Michael. “The Pillage by Turkey of the 12,000 year old cultural heritage of Cyprus”. Europe’sWorld. Spring 2007. Web. 9 February 2012. < http://www.europesworld.org/EWSettings/Article/tabid/190/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/20454/Default.aspx>.
4. ^ Jansen, Michael. “The Pillage by Turkey of the 12,000 year old cultural heritage of Cyprus”. Europe’sWorld. Spring 2007. Web. 9 February 2012. < http://www.europesworld.org/EWSettings/Article/tabid/190/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/20454/Default.aspx>.
5. ^ “Turkish Invasion and Cyprus Occupation”. Press and Information Office, Republic of Cyprus. CyprusNet.com. 2005. Web. 12 February 2012. < http://www.cyprusnet.com/content.php?article_id=2794&subject=standalone>.
6. ^ Morris, Chris. “Shame of Cyprus’s Looted Churches”. BBC News. 18 January 2002. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1768274.stm>.

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