Treasure's English Auction Foiled by Professor's Article

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 17 February 2020)



                              Aesthetically-improved oxen.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry continues to retrieve art works that
were illegally spirited out of Turkey.  The latest re-acquisitions are
a Sidamara-type sarcophagus from Isparta and a 'Boğa Arabası' (bull
cart) statue that dates to 3000 B.C.  Both treasures had been in
England and were returned to Turkey on Saturday.

The 'Boğa Arabası' statue was spotted in the sales catalogue of the
Bonhams Auction House, with an accompanying 2001 article by Prof.
Dr. Fikri Kulakoğlu.  The article's placement was intended to increase
the treasure's bonafides and price but it served to alert Turkish officials
to its current whereabouts and Anatolian origin.  The 'Boğa Arabası' had
been part of the Şanlıurfa Museum's collection.  The Ministry ıntervened
with the help of English police to stop the auction sale and ensure the
work's return to Turkey.


                    Sort of a latter-day Indiana Jones.

Culture and tourism expert Zeynep Boz explained that "while the
auction house hoped to increase the sales price of the 'Boğa Arabası'
statue by using Prof. Kulakoğlu's article, they didn't realize that he
works closely with the Ministry.  So Prof. Kulakoğlu wrote a report
about the statue's Anatolian origin, which the Ministry used to convince
English police to help stop the sale."

In 1998, Prof. Kulakoğlu, of Ankara University's archeology department,
conducted research in Şanlıurfa and determined that the statue had been
found in an ancient cemetery at the Abomur Höyüğü (Abomur Mound),
confirming its Anatolian roots.  He stated that "in the early 2000s, I
wrote the article and published it.  Consequently, a number of museums
around the world that had 'Boğa Arabası' statues unavoidably became
aware of the statues' Anatolian roots."

Continuing, Prof. Kulakoğlu said that "actually, we use the word 'bull'
out of politeness -  the animals were oxen, which have been used to
pull carts in Anatolia up to the current times.  The statues were gifts
for a dead person to show that when that person was alive he was
prosperous enough to have had such a cart."