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NETHERLANDS RETURNS FOUR STOLEN ICONS 18 YEARS AFTER DISCOVERY
Cyprus Mail
September 19, 2013 Thursday
By Peter Stevenson
THE Dutch government handed over four icons looted from a monastery
in northern Cyprus to the island's ambassador to the Netherlands,
Kyriacos Kouros, in a ceremony yesterday in The Hague.
The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about
EUR150,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in
1975. Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed
in 2002 after a seven-year legal battle but a change in Dutch law in
2007 allowed the government to finally lay claim to the artworks.
"We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities
within 48 hours," Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder of Walk of Truth,
an organisation that campaigns to preserve cultural heritage told
delegates at a September 16 conference in The Hague. "The Netherlands
should be congratulated for this."
The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and
Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalised after
the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons
are missing. Some objects have been recovered in Western Europe and
the United States.
The four looted icons of the saints were reportedly purchased by
an elderly Dutch couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their
Rotterdam home. When the couple tried to auction the icons in the
1990s, employees of Christie's International warned that they may be
stolen. A court case to recover them began in 1995.
A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in
good faith and was therefore the rightful owner. The Court of Appeals
found that the claim was time-barred under statutes of limitations
in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the Amsterdam-based lawyer who
represented the Church of Cyprus in the legal process.
Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and
in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territories
Act was passed.
The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating
from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959,
and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any
such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith
buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state, according
to Bloomberg.
"The Netherlands tested its laws, found they were at fault, and fixed
them," said Hadjitofi, who devoted herself to recovering looted art
after a Dutch dealer approached her offering to sell stolen Cypriot
artefacts. "Maybe other countries such as Germany could learn from
this."
Over 170 religious artefacts including icons, murals and mosaics from
the stolen collection of Turkish looter Aydin Dikmen were returned
to the Republic of Cyprus in a special ceremony in Munich in July.
"The artworks are no longer needed as evidence and now they can return
'home'," German Justice Minister Beate Merk said in a statement at
the time, adding "Cultural treasures are of immense importance for
every nation".
Cyprus Mail
September 19, 2013 Thursday
By Peter Stevenson
THE Dutch government handed over four icons looted from a monastery
in northern Cyprus to the island's ambassador to the Netherlands,
Kyriacos Kouros, in a ceremony yesterday in The Hague.
The 16th-century icons portraying the four apostles, valued at about
EUR150,000, were taken from the medieval Antiphonitis monastery in
1975. Legal efforts by the Church of Cyprus to recover the icons failed
in 2002 after a seven-year legal battle but a change in Dutch law in
2007 allowed the government to finally lay claim to the artworks.
"We have heard that the icons will be delivered to Cypriot authorities
within 48 hours," Tasoula Hadjitofi, the founder of Walk of Truth,
an organisation that campaigns to preserve cultural heritage told
delegates at a September 16 conference in The Hague. "The Netherlands
should be congratulated for this."
The Cypriot government says that as many as 100 Greek Orthodox and
Armenian churches in northern Cyprus were looted or vandalised after
the 1974 Turkish invasion. It estimates that more than 15,000 icons
are missing. Some objects have been recovered in Western Europe and
the United States.
The four looted icons of the saints were reportedly purchased by
an elderly Dutch couple from an Armenian dealer who visited their
Rotterdam home. When the couple tried to auction the icons in the
1990s, employees of Christie's International warned that they may be
stolen. A court case to recover them began in 1995.
A district court ruled that the Dutch purchaser bought the icons in
good faith and was therefore the rightful owner. The Court of Appeals
found that the claim was time-barred under statutes of limitations
in 2002, according to Rob Polak, the Amsterdam-based lawyer who
represented the Church of Cyprus in the legal process.
Questions about the ruling were raised in the Dutch parliament, and
in 2007, the Cultural Property Originating From Occupied Territories
Act was passed.
The law bans the import and ownership of cultural property originating
from a territory that was occupied in an armed conflict after 1959,
and allows the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to seize any
such property. In cases where the owner is deemed to be a good-faith
buyer, he may receive compensation from the Dutch state, according
to Bloomberg.
"The Netherlands tested its laws, found they were at fault, and fixed
them," said Hadjitofi, who devoted herself to recovering looted art
after a Dutch dealer approached her offering to sell stolen Cypriot
artefacts. "Maybe other countries such as Germany could learn from
this."
Over 170 religious artefacts including icons, murals and mosaics from
the stolen collection of Turkish looter Aydin Dikmen were returned
to the Republic of Cyprus in a special ceremony in Munich in July.
"The artworks are no longer needed as evidence and now they can return
'home'," German Justice Minister Beate Merk said in a statement at
the time, adding "Cultural treasures are of immense importance for
every nation".