Address
of the Minister of Communications and Works,
Mr Marios Demetriades,
at
the launch
of the publication: “Protecting the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus”
It
is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the launch of the
Department
of Antiquities’ publication concerning the proceedings of the
International Workshop “Protecting the Cultural Heritage of Cyprus:
Joining efforts in preventing the illicit trafficking of cultural
heritage”. This extremely important and much needed workshop,
organized by the Department of Antiquities in collaboration with the
Church of Cyprus and the Cyprus American Archaeological Research
Institute, dealt with the extremely serious issue of the illicit
trafficking of cultural goods and highlighted the value of the common
efforts of numerous organizations and experts in the combating of
this serious and worldwide problem.
In
recent years, the illicit trafficking of cultural goods and the
destruction of cultural heritage in general are issues escalating in
seriousness, especially in the geographical region in which Cyprus is
situated.
The
numerous ongoing armed conflicts and unstable political situations
around us are
affecting invaluable cultural heritage in many ways: looting, illicit
trafficking, plundering and demolishing. The cultural heritage of
Cyprus is an ongoing victim of such developments. The Turkish
invasion and the subsequent military occupation of more than a third
of the territory of the Republic have been and continue to be
disastrous for the island’s cultural heritage. A large percentage
of Cyprus’ cultural heritage remains inaccessible to the competent
authorities. As a result museums, monuments and sites have been
neglected, destroyed and looted and moveable antiquities have been
illicitly trafficked and are still missing. Moreover, a very large
number of antiquities from Cyprus have found their way into the
antiquities markets worldwide.
However,
in recent years we have had some very positive developments which
have been the result of close cooperation and mutual respect and
understanding between countries and tireless efforts of government
organizations, the Church of Cyprus and private institutions and
individuals. One of the most important developments has been the
largest to date repatriation of Cypriot antiquities which were
repatriated from Munich, Germany.
As
a result of that, 173
ecclesiastical objects that had been illegally removed from numerous
Byzantine and Medieval churches in the occupied part of Cyprus
following the Turkish invasion of 1974 and had ended up in Germany,
were repatriated in November 2013 and are temporarily exhibited at
the Byzantine Museum of the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation,
Lefkosia, until the day when it will be possible to return them to
their original setting.
Other
extremely important developments include the strengthening of
national and European legislation and the conclusion of bilateral
agreements with third countries to impose import controls on cultural
goods which have been unlawfully exported from their country of
origin. One such agreement was signed in January 2013 between the
Republic of Cyprus and the Swiss Confederation, prohibiting the
import of cultural goods in both states, when the national
legislation of the source country has not been followed. At the same
time, the Agreement outlines the framework of collaboration of the
two countries in issues related to the return of cultural property
that has been illegally exported from its country of origin and it
also promotes scientific collaboration and cultural exchanges between
Cyprus and Switzerland.
The
signing of this Agreement, along with the renewal of the Memorandum
of Understanding between the Republic of Cyprus and the USA (in July
2012) and also the signing of a similar Agreement with China (in
October 2013) concerning the imposition of import restrictions on
Cypriot archaeological objects, are extremely important steps towards
the enhancement of the protection of the cultural heritage of Cyprus
and especially towards the prevention of the illegal trade of
cultural treasures that are systematically being looted in the
island’s occupied areas by the illegal Turkish regime.
At
this point I
wish to express my sincere appreciation for the support and
collaboration of the Swiss Confederation and specifically the Swiss
Federal Office of Culture for funding the publication of the
proceedings and today’s event.
Last
but not least, I’m
confident that this publication will prove to be valuable in our
efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage. I
would like to thank all the authors for their invaluable
contributions as well as the Organizing Committee for its excellent
work.
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