# The Elgin Marbles Controversy: A Comprehensive Report for Future Archaeologists

## Introduction

The Elgin Marbles controversy represents one of the most significant debates in archaeology and cultural heritage today.

As a future archaeologist, understanding this dispute is crucial for navigating the complex relationship between archaeological discovery, cultural ownership, and international cooperation.

## Historical Background

### The Removal
In the early 19th century, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (which then controlled Greece), removed approximately half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon between 1801 and 1812.

These ancient Greek marble sculptures, created in the 5th century BC under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, originally decorated the Parthenon temple on the Athenian Acropolis.

### Acquisition by the British Museum
Elgin transported the sculptures to Britain, where they were eventually purchased by the British government in

# The Elgin Marbles Controversy: A Comprehensive Report for Future Archaeologists

## Introduction

The Elgin Marbles controversy represents one of the most significant debates in archaeology and cultural heritage today.

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Content: The best museum and art exhibitions to visit this Easter across the UK

Get a culture fix this Easter with our pick of the best exhibitions and museums across the UK

Joanna Whitehead
Wednesday 06 March 2024 11:38
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Easter isn’t just an opportunity to eat your own body-weight in chocolate. It’s also the perfect time for a well-earned long-weekend catch up with friends and family.

Whether you have a few days to spare, or a full fortnight in which to keep the kids entertained, we’ve rounded up some of the best museum and art exhibitions to check out.

With the UK home to an astonishing 1,800 museums, there’s certain to be an establishment that caters to your interests, from niche, one-room archives to sprawling national collections.

Our pick takes in contemporary art, motherhood, dark skies, seabirds, children’s books, 1960s fashion and much more besides.

And while spring may have officially begun by the time the Easter weekend rolls around, the British weather is nothing but fickle, so a museum is a good rain-safe option to have in your back pocket.

From Cambridge to Cornwall, Omagh to Angus, here’s our selection of the best museum and art exhibitions to check out this Easter, to inspire, educate and entertain.

Blaenafon and Cardiff, Wales

Big Pit National Coal Museum

2024 is the fortieth anniversary of the miner’s strikes, Britain’s biggest industrial dispute. To commemorate the date, Wales’s Big Pit Coal Museum is exhibiting Streic! 1984-1985 Strike! which will include exhibitions at both Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenafon and at the National Museum Cardiff. Visitors can also go on a tour of the former mine to learn more about the gruelling job of a miner, with a former worker taking tours. Expect to learn more about this integral part of British history whose impact can still be felt today.

Streic! 1984-1985 Strike!is at the Big Pit National Coal Mining Museum, until 1 March 2025, free.

Bristol

Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood

Hayward Gallery Touring’s major group exhibition explores the pain, pleasure, joy and heartache motherhood can bring. Featuring the work of more than 60 modern and contemporary artists, from the feminist avant-garde, to the present day, this exhibit considers motherhood as a creative enterprise, and engages with themes of ambivalence, gender and caregiving. Exploring diverse experiences of motherhood, this landmark exhibition aims to highlight the complexity of motherhood.

Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood is at the Arnolfini from 9 March to 26 May 2024, free (donations welcome)

Read more on UK travel:

Cambridge

William Blake’s Universe

William Blake’s Universe brings together the largest-ever display of works by the 19th-century radical British artist, printmaker and poet. The exhibition explores wider themes including romanticism, mysticism and spiritual regeneration, showing Blake’s work alongside that of some of his European contemporaries, such as the German romantic painters Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich. Many of these pieces have never been displayed publicly in the UK until now – prepare to have your consciousness expanded.

William Blake’s Universe is at the Fitzwilliam Museum until 19 May 2024, free (booking essential)

London

Cute

This major new exhibition explores “the irresistible force of cuteness in contemporary culture”, and includes work by over 50 artists and contributors, alongside culturally significant objects. As well as new artworks, the exhibition includes video games, music, fashion, toys and social media, plus a disco to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Hello Kitty. As well as making you go “awww”, the exhibit also considers the cultural impact of cuteness, revealing its phenomenal and complex cultural power.

Cute: An Exhibition Exploring the Irrestible Rise of Cuteness is at Somerset House until 14 April 2024. Tickets £18.50 (concessions from £11).

The Biba Story: 1964–1975

Fashionistas will adore this exhibition of Barbara Hulanicki’s influential label. Biba came to epitomise swinging London and continues to resonate today. From the first simple shift dresses, to super-glam wraps, trouser suits, sequinned bodices and floppy hats, this exhibition brings together some of the British label’s most beloved looks.

The Biba Story: 1964-1975 is at the Fashion and Textile Museum from 22 March to 8 September 2024. Tickets £12.65

Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind

After years of being dismissed as nothing more than John Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono is finally getting the major retrospective she deserves. Featuring over 200 works spanning more than seven decades, this exhibition celebrates key moments in the 91 year old’s trailblazing multi-disciplinary career. Expect scores, installations, film, music and photography, including “Cut Piece” (1964), where people were invited to cut off her clothing, and her banned“Film No.4 (Bottoms)” (1966-67) which she created as a “petition for peace”. Visitors are invited to take part in creative and active encounters with Ono’s works, such as “Wish Trees for London”, where you can contribute personal wishes for peace. The Independent’s critic says that this exhibition “shows it’s time to accept her not only as an extraordinary human being, but a very significant artist”.

Yoko Ono: MUSIC OF THE MIND is at Tate Modern until 1 September 2024. Tickets: £22 (concessions available)

Manchester

Manchester Open 2024

Taking place every two years, the Open Exhibition is the biggest celebration of Greater Manchester’s creative talent. This major exhibition brings together artwork including paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, ceramics, digital and mixed media, video, audio and more. And with entries welcome from people of all backgrounds and experience, this is a wonderful opportunity to support new and emerging talent.

The Manchester Open 2024 is at HOME until 28 April 2024, free (booking essential)

Newcastle

Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books

Bookworms young and old will love this adorable museum arranged over seven floors in the heart of Newcastle. It champions reading, bringing storytelling to life with an events calendar consisting of storytelling and crafts. Current exhibitions include the chance to get to know beloved children’s books such as Judith Kerr’s Mog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, David McKee’s Elmer and Friends, and the Horrible Histories series.

Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, free

North Berwick, Scotland

Scottish Seabird Centre

This marine conservation and education charity has plenty of Easter holiday activities to keep kids and adults entertained, including boat trips around the local islands, beach cleans, seaside sketching sessions, and science skills sessions.

Scottish Seabird Centre. Tickets £11.95

Omagh, Northern Ireland

OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory

According to scientists and astronomers, the Solar Maximum in 2024/25 is set to bring the best displays of the Northern Lights in 20 years, with the aurora borealis visible across the UK in recent nights. With this in mind, there’s no better time to visit Northern Ireland’s only International Dark Sky Park. Here, visitors can explore the solar system, gaze at the night sky using telescopes, and enjoy evening audiovisual shows, holographic installations and more. Located at the foot of the dramatic Sperrin Mountains, this is a beautiful place to discover the natural world.

OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory. Tickets £5

Scotland

A Bonnie Way: Unravelling the Seduction of the Countryside

Travelling Gallery is a fantastic contemporary art gallery housed in a bus that has been travelling around Scotland since 1978, bringing art, conversation and new outlooks. Its current exhibition, A Bonnie Way: Unravelling the Seduction of the Countryside, presents the work of three artists who explore their experiences of life and conversations in rural and semi-rural places. The exhibition will tour between March and May 2024, stopping in Angus, Aberdeen, Dundee, Shetland Islands, Moray and the Highlands.

Travelling Gallery, Until May 2024, free.

St Ives, Cornwall

Outi Pieski

Outi Pieski is a Sámi visual artist based in Ohcejohka (Utsjoki), Finland. In this, her first large-scale UK exhibition, she explores the culture and identity of the Sámi people, Europe’s largest indigenous group, ancestral return and the relationship between humans, animals and nature. Using wood and textiles, Pieski creates colourful thought-provoking, energetic and important sculpture, paintings, photographs and more.

Tate St Ives, Until 6 May 2024, £12 (concessions available)

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Content: The Turkish-Greek escalation is a warning of war or a show of muscles
In a remarkable development, the past few weeks witnessed a state of tension and hostile statements between Ankara and Athens, with the latter increasing the size of its military presence on the islands close to Turkish territory, in clear violation of the international agreements and treaties signed between the two countries, relating to the Aegean Islands, namely the London Convention 1913, Lausanne 1923 and Paris 1947, which all stipulated that the islands should remain civilian and not become military status for any reason in the future.
Turkey had agreed to cede the Aegean Islands to Greece in the Lausanne Convention, provided that the islands were not armed and would always remain demilitarized. Article 13 of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty explicitly provided for the demilitarization of the islands of Ikaria, Chios, Samos and Lesvos by name. What Greece has promised.
Greek islands and their proximity to the Turkish coast
The strange thing is that there are many of these islands away from the Turkish coast only about two kilometers against more than 550 kilometers from the Greek territory, and is the main reason for the status of these islands to the period of World War II, when Germany controlled the archipelago of islands, and after the defeat of Hitler received by Britain, which handed them over to Greece, according to the Paris Peace Treaty signed in 1947, which denied at the same time Turkey ’ s sovereignty over the islands. Dada was a natural geography of the Anatolian region, and was extracted from the Ottoman Empire.
As a matter of fact, Greece has been arming the islands regularly since 1960, as it considers its actions to be within the framework of its full sovereignty, and therefore it is not obliged to apply the provisions of international conventions, especially since Turkey was not a party to the Paris Peace Treaty, which gives it the right to act as it pleases on its territory and subject to its geographical sovereignty.
More important and more serious Greek goals and intentions
Athens is seeking to increase its territorial waters from 6 to 12 miles, and to limit the Turkish presence in the eastern Mediterranean by imposing a fait accompli policy, so that it can explore the region ’ s wealth without Turkish and Turkish Cypriot interference.
This policy of fait accompli will lead to another problem no less important than the increase of Greek territorial waters at the expense of Turkey, which is the issue of the airspace of both countries.
Greece is currently using the islands as an obstacle to prevent Turkey from drilling for oil and wealth in these areas, and to pave the way for the expansion of its territorial waters, which Turkey rejects as this would lock it in a narrow coastal strip on the Aegean Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, which is contrary to the legal and political reality.
Greek provocations and increased military capabilities portend the outbreak of war
With Greek provocations continuing, and its constant quest to create problems and provoke crises between it and Turkey, there are likely to increase tension, ignite a new crisis in the region, and that the outbreak of a war between Turkey and Greece may become a reality in light of the escalation of statements between the two sides, and increase Greece's military forces near the border with Turkey, in addition to increase the volume of military spending from 500 million euros to 2.5 billion euros last year. The expansion and deployment of US military bases on Greek soil, which currently number nine with many of the latest weapons and the growing number of US troops, is a Greek attempt to bridge the gap in military power between Turkey and the United States.
The reasons for the difficulty of starting a Turkish-Greek war
Despite the validity of this information and the unity of the mutual statements, the outbreak of a Greek-Turkish war seems unlikely to happen due to several considerations that cannot be ignored or overlooked, which can be summarized in the following points:
1- The Greek government is preparing for early parliamentary elections, so the sharpening of its tone towards Turkey can be put in the category of domestic consumption to inflame the enthusiasm of the Greek masses and push them to vote for the ruling party, which threatens to wage war against Turkey and needs popular support to do so, which Turkish officials understand and understand.
The Greek government is suffering from an economic crisis that prevents it from taking this step, which would aggravate the situation, increase the bureaucracy, and spread political extremism within it.
Although it seeks to bridge the gap in military power between it and Turkey, the Greek officials themselves realize that this is not easy, and will not be done overnight, with each step taken by Athens in this direction, Turkey finds that Turkey is several steps ahead of it, even one of the deputies in the Greek parliament stated that "Turkey is a great regional power, and we can not object to this."
Greece, as is known, enjoys the support of both the United States and the European Union in exchange for Turkey standing alone, but Athens knows very well that if it pushes things towards war between it and Turkey, neither the EU nor the United States will support this approach, because of the serious repercussions that could result from this, at a time when Russia is increasing its influence in the Balkans, and China is threatening to wage war over Taiwan.
4- Turkey believes that the Greek moves in the Aegean Sea, despite its objections, are in the interest of achieving one of its important objectives, which it has been seeking for some time, which is to raise again the need to reconsider the provisions of the Lausanne Agreement, according to which the land and sea borders between Turkey and Greece were demarcated. Turkish fjords.
With the continuing economic crisis plaguing the Turkish economy, and the presence of Turkish military forces on the ground in Libya, Iraq and Syria, it seems very difficult to enter into a war with Greece, as this represents an additional burden on Turkish citizens, which they cannot afford to bear.
6- Turkey seems more preoccupied with its diplomatic moves regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war, as this proves its role as an active regional power in the region, and is in favor of its desire to be one of the pillars of the new world order that will be formed after the end of this war, and therefore entering into a war with Greece at this time will not be good for it politically, economically or militarily.
NATO will not accept the collision of two member states at least for the time being, because this would break the prestige of the alliance, weaken its military power against Russia, which seeks to increase its influence in the region, and limit its expansion on its borders by increasing its geographical area at the expense of many Balkan countries, which seek refuge in the alliance.
Therefore, it seems more logical to see in the coming period the activation of many diplomatic channels, political means to remove tension between the two countries, and work to defuse the crisis whether by the European Union, the United States or NATO.
Source: Al Jazeera Direct

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Content: Readers’ wildlife photos

July 15, 2023 • 8:15 am

Today we feature another travel/historical/picture contribution from Athayde Tonhasca Júnior.  His captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Macedonian treasures

Macedonia, in northern Greece, is the descendant of the Kingdom of Macedon of Alexander the Great fame, and not to be confused with Northern Macedonia, the independent country resulting from the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The young country’s choice of ‘Macedonia’ for its name caused a 25-year kerfuffle with Greece, which is still bitter about it (source of the images in parentheses).

Some of the 266 fragments of the Derveni Papyrus, the oldest European ‘book’ and one of the documents in the UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World’ Programme. The papyrus roll from the 3rd-4th c. BC was found carbonized among the remains of a funeral pyre in northern Greece. The text, read with special photographic techniques, consists mainly of an allegorical-philosophical interpretation of a poem ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus. One of the lines read: Zeus is the hea[d], Zeus the mid[dle], and from Zeus all things are ma[de], which unsurprisingly resonates with the idea of a Grand Poobah from the Abrahamic religions. Most modern myths such as the Flood, Immaculate Conception, Chosen People, Garden of Eden, Hell, are not original – the Ancient Pagans thought of them first. (Thessaloniki’s Archaeological Museum, AM):

A bill of sale from 3rd c. AD.: Titos, son of Lykos, buys from Amphotera a two-month old slave girl. The girl’s name is Nike. The price is set at 15 silver pieces. Slavery was a fact of life for the Greek city states and every other ancient civilisation. (AM):

JAC: I’ve highlighted Nike’s name

Aphrodite, or Venus for the Romans. Her family tree was unusual even for the imaginative Greeks: she was born from the white foam produced by the severed genitals of Uranus (Heaven), after his son Cronus threw them into the sea (aphros means ‘foam’). Aphrodite had a wide portfolio: goddess of sexual love, beauty and fertility, she was also worshipped by seafarers, prostitutes and warriors. This terracotta figurine is an early representation of Aphrodite, with no features to distinguish her from other goddesses. (Pella Archaeological Museum):

Some of Aphrodite’s later incarnations: The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510) © Uffizi Gallery, Wikimedia Commons, and The Birth of Suburbia, by Rosaleen Ryan.:

Hermaphroditus, the son of Aphrodite and Hermes. The water-nymph Salmacis, seeing him bathing in a pool, fell in love and prayed that they may never be separated. The gods acquiesced and joined the pair into one body with a dual nature, boy and girl. Among Greeks and Romans, Hermaphroditus was worshipped by – unsurprisingly – hermaphrodites, and also by ‘effeminate men’. But he was also seen as a deity of marriage for representing the union of a man and a woman. Hermaphroditus has experienced an unexpected revival into the modern pantheon, as the Church of Woke often cites him in mendacious arguments for the idea of sex as a continuum. (AM):

A votive relief dedicated to Hades, the god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld. 2nd c. AD. The Greeks had a god or demigod for any imaginable situation or activity. Listeners of A Way with Words mentioned some gods missing from the museum, including: Lemonades, god of cool refreshments; Ledes, god of low power lamps; Marmalades, god of chunky fruit spreads; Seus, god of children’s literature; Mediocretes, god of things that are slightly below average; Herpes and Chlamydia, the incurable romantics; Auricles and Ventricles, protagonists of a heart-breaking story; Apallo, god of shock and dismay; Diabetes, the god of carbonated sodas; and Phlebotomies, god of vampires. (AM):

You may have attended symposiums, but not likely the ones put together by the Ancient Greeks. Symposiums were gatherings of upper-class men in the andrones (‘men’s quarters’), which were furnished with couches along the walls. The lads would dine and drink in a semi-reclining position, which was a mark of elegance and decorum (the standing figure is a slave, who are always depicted as small). Household women did not take part: instead, cultured and sophisticated courtesans (the hetairai) were hired to entertain the guests with music, songs, dances and their ‘feminine charm’. (AM).

A helmet and funerary mask from ~520 BC. The warrior was buried wearing his helmet and his face was covered with a golden mask. The facial characteristics must have been created by pressing the gold sheet against the dead man’s face. (AM).

This gold chest is believed to have held the bones of King Philip II, and the gold wreath of oak leaves adorned his dead body. Philip II turned the kingdom of Macedonia into a regional power and prepared the ground for his son, Alexander the Great. The discovery of Philip’s tomb near modern Vergina in 1977 by Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos is one the most remarkable archaeological findings ever. (Royal Tombs of Vergina):

A replica of the Horologion of Philippi from 250-350 AD. This amazing instrument was used to calculate time, latitude, the height and the azimuth of the sun or some other star. You can find out how it works here. Only the Antikythera Mechanism could be more spectacular and awe-inspiring (AM):

A clay alabastron (a vessel used for storing oil) with a bust of the god Dionysus from the 2nd-1st c. BC. It is shaped like a phallus, which was a symbol of fertility and well-being, and a charm to avoid bad luck. Phallic amulets, often in the form of winged willies, really took off with the Romans. They were depicted in jewellery, pendants, lamps, relief carvings, mosaics, etc. and given to male children to ward off the evil eye and keep them healthy during their early years. These phallic charms were known as fascini (sing. fascinus), which is fascinating. (Museum of the Roman Agora, Thessaloniki):

Alexander III, aka the Great (356-323 BC). As king of Macedonia, Alexander created the largest empire in the ancient world until the Romans came to the stage, and he laid the foundations for the Hellenistic Period, when Greek language and culture spread throughout the Mediterranean. Alexander was no thicko: he studied literature, science, medicine and philosophy under the supervision of Aristotle, his private tutor. This head bust embodies all that riles the Woke apostles: empire, male dominance, whiteness. So inevitably the Classics are being cancelled, sometimes by classicists themselves. (Pella Archaeological Museum):

This lead tablet from the 4th c. BC contains a curse in the dialect spoken by the population of Pella (the ancient capital of Macedon). Among other things, it says: ‘…were I ever to unfold and read these words again after digging (the tablet) up, only then should Dionysophon marry, not before; may he indeed not take another woman than myself, but let me alone grow old by the side of Dionysophon and no one else”; ‘But please keep this (piece of writing) for my sake so that these events do not happen and wretched Thetima perishes miserably’. Curse tablets with magic texts intending to cause harm or to ward off evil were a big thing among Greeks and Romans. They were placed in graves, thrown into wells or nailed to the walls of temples. A whole collection of them was found in the English city of Bath. (Pella Archaeological Museum):

Lead was also a handy resource for psychological warfare; Greeks and Romans used catapults (sling shots) with deadly efficacy, but some of their lead bullets were intended to carry messages to threaten, insult or taunt the enemy. In 41 BC, during the civil war of Augustus, Octavius (the future Emperor Augustus) cornered his enemies Lucius Antonius and Fulvia (Mark Antony’s brother and wife) in the town of Perugia. During the long siege that followed, the opposing armies showered each other with glandes (lead bullets). Many of these projectiles have been recovered from the archaeological site, and some make interesting reading, although nothing like the Aeneid or Metamorphoses. The precision and concision of the Latin language made these messages come across sharply and to the point: sede, laxe Octavi: ‘sit [on this], gaping-arse Octavius’; peto landicam Fulviae: ‘I’m aiming at Fulvia’s clitoris’; salve Octavi, felas: ‘Hello Octavius, you suck cock’; L. Antoni calve; Fulvia, culum pandite; ‘L. Antonius you baldy; Fulvia, spread you cheeks’ (during that period, Romans saw baldness as a disfigurement subject to ridicule; Cesar had a big chip on his shoulder because of his thinning hair). This taunting tradition has endured: American military staff scribbled their names and messages on ‘Fat Man’, the bomb that obliterated Nagasaki, and today you can pay to send a custom message on artillery shells that Ukrainian soldiers are firing at the Russians. Image: Greek lead bullets with a winged thunderbolt on one side and the inscription “ΔΕΞΑΙ” (Dexai) meaning ‘take that’ or ‘catch’ on the other side. 4th c. BC © Marie-Lan Nguyen, British Museum:

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Council approves University of California plan to hire undocumented students
NBA / Williams provocation ignited anger Butler beat the Green Shirts to win the East Championship for 2 consecutive times
The mystery behind stolen, smuggled, donated to top museums and returned Chinese cultural relics
The United States has returned two millennia-old stone beds to China. Famous collectors in New York have kept them at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and one of them has not been shown to the public for 25 years.
What is the relationship between collectors, museums, and the smuggling of artifacts? Prosecutors and archaeologists work to solve the mystery.
Two engraved engraved Cremation motifs are the protagonists of the Chinese cultural relics repatriation ceremony held in New York, USA on May 9, 2023. The engraved stone bed is a “burial platform ” surrounded by stone screens, also known as the engraved sarcophagus bed, used to place bones in some high-grade tombs from the Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
In the early 1990s, thieves sneaked into an ancient tomb in China that may have been a Sogdian, cutting a screen stone bed with a saw and smuggling it out of the country. More than 30 years later, Chinese Consulate General Huang Ping attended a ceremony at the Manhattan prosecutor ’ s office in New York and signed a return agreement with the United States to take the two artifacts home.
This is the latest arrangement by the Manhattan District Attorney ’ s Office for the return of artifacts to China, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Yemen and other countries in recent months.
In this case, prosecutors have seized 89 artifacts from 10 countries with a total value of $69 million.
Collect a mystery. Philanthropist. Investigate.
These include five ancient Greek marble statues stolen from Greece and smuggled into Europe in 1982, and a beautiful alabaster statue stolen from ancient tombs by armed groups during the Yemeni Civil War in 1994, which later appeared in a London auction house.
Unlike artefacts looted by colonists, these artefacts were stolen and smuggled after the global consensus on the 1970 Convention to crack down on the illegal trade in artefacts, and then made their way into top Western museums through antique-loving donors.
As the investigation draws to a close, prosecutors reveal the people who have been hiding at the end of the antiquities trade in this case: Shelby White, a prominent American philanthropist and trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The 80-year-old White collection has been going on for nearly half a century, and the archeological community and investigators from various countries have struggled with her for nearly 30 years.
In 1990, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held a grand exhibition on the theme of "The Last Glory", and the White couple selected 197 artifacts, from Neolithic relics, to beautiful statues of Mesopotamia, to ancient Greek and Roman gold ornaments, large sculptures and bottles, and even ancient artifacts of European nomadic tribes.
Identity is a mystery. 90% of the exhibits have no documents.
However, when the archaeologist Gill and his colleagues tried to trace the source through artefacts, they found that about 90% of the exhibits were “born in the air, ” and that there was no valid documentation to prove that their circulation was orderly.
One antiquarian recalled that there was a beautiful set of gold jewelry in the exhibition, which he had seen in 1975.
At the time, the dealer peddled antiquities in cardboard boxes, and this set of jewelry and other items were attached to the same dirt and seemed to be freshly “unearthed. ”
According to Jill, in addition to documents, records and other evidence, the state of newly unearthed cultural relics is obviously different from that of long-maintained collections and collections, such as traces of mud and dirt when unearthed, which are easily noticed by experienced collectors and professionals.
In May 2023, upon the return of the two Chinese enclosures, the Manhattan prosecutor ’ s office also mentioned in a press release that the two artifacts “were never cleaned and covered in dirt, which is a clear sign of their illegal origin. ”
In 2006, forensic archaeologist Christos Chirogiannis became involved in the investigation of contraband artifacts in Italy and Greece, and the following year he became involved in a case related to the Shelby White collection.
He pointed out that on the stone beds of China, there is the most obvious trace: thieves used modern tools to cut cultural relics.
In fact, White ’ s collection doesn ’ t always come from well-known auction houses. In 1982, she bought five ancient Greek marble statues from Nicolas Kutulakis, the Paris gallery owner, who has been involved in antiquities smuggling since 1972.
White ’ s collection of Yemeni alabaster statues, which she purchased from Robin Thames in London in the 1990s.
Sims has been identified by police as an international criminal network organizer.
The deal is a mystery. Collectors consider themselves to be a public good.
Another interpretation of White's behavior is "public good."
In the 1990s, collectors thought they were doing good: buying precious artefacts from the turbulent or impoverished Third World and then giving them to museums open to the public, said Elizabeth Marlowe, chair of the department of art and art history at Colgate University.
The Western public does not think that such protection of cultural relics is a problem.
This led to the United Nations Convention of 1970 failing to limit the enthusiasm of collectors like White for objects of illicit origin.
Research shows that since the signing of the Convention, 85% of the international trade in cultural relics has been related to illegal trade such as illegal excavation and smuggling.
In the more than 20 years after the Kutulakis and Semis were uncovered, White returned a small number of artifacts under pressure from prosecutors and relevant national governments.
However, she did not take the initiative to inspect the collection, which has been proved to be related to illegal dealers.
From 2021 to 2023, Manhattan prosecutors and Department of Homeland Security agents repeatedly entered her residence and office.
Archaeologists: Artifacts can be returned, history cannot be restored
In the United States, a legal principle favoring recovery is that no purchaser of a stolen item, no matter how many times a legal transaction has been "acquired in good faith", can change the nature of the item's "stolen property" and cannot acquire ownership.
But the downside is that prior to 2017, U.S. judicial and law enforcement practices generally treated the recovery of illegal trade in artifacts as a civil matter.
The Antiquities Division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has come forward to identify the rightful owners of stolen property through a civil process.
This can successfully return artifacts, but it doesn ’ t stop dealers from peddling suspicious artifacts to collectors like White: after all, there is no risk of “jail ” or“ house raiding ” on either side.
You're going to jail for stealing cultural relics.
In 2017, Patty Gestenburis, a well-known lawyer for the protection of cultural heritage and chairman of President Barack Obama ’ s Presidential Advisory Committee on Cultural Property, argued that illegal activities in the market could not be stopped if the punishment of imprisonment was not imposed.
The antiquities smuggling unit at the Manhattan prosecutor's office came into being.
In June 2021, Manhattan prosecutors and Department of Homeland Security agents entered Shelby White ’ s home and office with a search warrant and seized five artifacts that could serve as evidence of possession and conspiracy.
In April 2022, prosecutors seized 18 cultural relics. In December, 23 more cultural relics were seized.
In January of this year, the latest round of confiscated cultural relics became the protagonist of the return ceremony between April and May.
In the press release for the return ceremony, prosecutors repeatedly thanked Chirogiannis for his help. Chirogiannis said it all stemmed from a raid on White's apartment in the criminal investigation.
The investigators took a large number of photographs, which the judge forwarded to Chirogiannis for analysis, and he identified more than 30 artifacts that were in the smuggling files.
Mallou said she was involved in the investigation, which took 10 years from the discovery of the source problem by the Turkish government to its successful recovery from White this year.
By contrast, two Chinese stone artefacts were fortunate: they were the windfall of Manhattan prosecutors during a massive raid.
Grave robberies destroy academic value.
Archaeologist Qi Dongfang once explained why "tomb theft is a very hateful thing": once the tomb is destroyed, even if the artifacts are complete, the academic value will be greatly reduced.
Because the artifacts unearthed through scientific excavation have an accurate location of the land, the excavation environment, the placement location, and a combination of other artifacts unearthed together, the historical information provided is a complete set.
Cirogiannis admits that the vast majority of stolen and smuggled artifacts cannot be recovered, which means that the returned artifacts can ’ t tell their stories to scholars.
For example, these two stone tablets, each weighing 1,000 pounds (about 453 kg), are only part of the cut stone bed, in other words, only two "bed legs".
“We may never know: whose bones are they in? Where are they buried? What year are they buried? What are the funerals? ” says Cirogiannis.“ The artifacts can be returned, but what we ’ ll never lose is the history they tell. ”
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The last one.
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As a future archaeologist, understanding this dispute is crucial for navigating the complex relationship between archaeological discovery, cultural ownership, and international cooperation.

Title:

Content: Turkey and Greece discuss normalization of relations
The possibility for this appeared after the NATO summit in Vilnius
Dimitris Papamitsos / Greek Prime Minister's Office via AP
Turkey and Greece have agreed to “reset ” bilateral relations and resume negotiations to resolve all contentious issues that have accumulated in recent years, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with Kathimerini on July 13.
In May 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suspended bilateral contacts after he accused the Greek authorities of pressuring the United States to block the sale of American F-16 fighters to the Turkish armed forces.
Despite the fact that Athens and Ankara are part of NATO, the parties have been engaged in a dispute over the islands in the Aegean Sea and the Cyprus problem for several decades.
Previously re-elected Erdogan and Mitsotakis (the first after winning the second round of presidential elections at the end of May, the second after the results of repeated parliamentary elections at the end of June) held talks on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 12.
There, the heads of state agreed to “activate several channels of communication ” between the governments of the two countries.
“It is beneficial for both countries that the positive climate that has developed in bilateral relations in recent months has continuity and consistency, ” the Greek prime minister said on his website.
On the same day, the Turkish presidential administration ’ s liaison office reported that the leaders had agreed on the work of the High-Level Cooperation Council in Thessaloniki, which is scheduled for autumn.
The meeting of the Council at the level of the two governments was held for the first time
But since 2016, due to growing political differences, these meetings have been interrupted.
But the actual normalization of Greek-Turkish relations began earlier – after Athens was among the first to send a rescue team to Turkey to deal with the aftermath of the February earthquake in the southeast of the country, which killed more than 50,000 people.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias flew to Ankara, becoming the first European minister to visit Turkey after the disaster.
During talks with Turkish officials, he called for the elimination of differences between Turkey, the European Union and the United States: “From the conflict of Ankara with the authorities of the EU and the United States, Athens does not have any strategic benefits. ”
In addition, Dendias added that cooperation with the Turkish authorities to eliminate the consequences of the earthquake “has made many changes in the psychology ” of Greek-Turkish relations.
The apple of discord between Turkey and Greece is a long-standing dispute over the delimitation of territorial waters in the Aegean: both countries now define their breadth as 6 nautical miles (11 km).
Most of the Aegean islands, except for Gokcead and Bozcaad, belong to Greece, and a number of large Greek islands are located in close proximity to the mainland borders of Turkey.
This does not allow Ankara to expand either sea or air zones of influence.
At the same time, Athens claims the right to extend the border to 12 miles, citing the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which causes resistance from the Turkish authorities.
On the other hand, Turkey has not signed the UNCLOS Convention and periodically threatens Greece with war if it expands its territorial waters.
In addition, Erdogan demands an end to the militarization of the islands in the Aegean Sea by the Greeks.
All these disagreements in 2020 almost led to an armed clash after the Turkish research vessel Oruç Reis began exploration for minerals in the southeastern Aegean.
Then the armed forces of Greece were put on high alert.
The situation was de-escalated after the intervention of Washington.
Finally, Ankara and Athens cannot agree on the Cyprus issue.
Since 1974, Cyprus has actually been divided into almost two equal parts: the north of the island is controlled by the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the south by the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, inhabited by Greeks.
Greece supports the unification of the island and insists on the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island (this contingent numbers about 40,000 people).
Turkey refuses to comply with these requirements and advocates international recognition of the TRNC as an independent state.
The conflict around Cyprus is also exacerbated by the discovery of large gas reserves in the territorial waters of the island, in the development of which the Turkish authorities are interested.
According to the Greek authorities of the southern part of the island, only in the Aphrodite field, gas reserves can be about 170 billion cubic meters. Ankara does not recognize the sovereignty of the Greeks over the fields and considers the drilling licenses issued by the Greek Cypriots to Western companies illegal.
At the same time, Turkish drilling vessels have been working south of the Karpas Peninsula in the north of the island since 2019.
Through the restoration of contacts with Greece, the Turkish authorities in general are trying to reset relations with Western states, said Arif Asalıoğlu, Director General of the International Institute for the Development of Scientific Cooperation.
Earlier, Erdogan lifted the veto on Sweden ’ s admission to NATO after Stockholm agreed to support Ankara ’ s accession to the European Union.
The normalization of relations with Greece is one of the criteria for Turkey ’ s entry into the EU.
Thus, the Turkish president says that he has changed his foreign policy approaches in the Western direction, ” the expert said.
Ankara, normalizing relations with the West, is trying to get a package of financial assistance to solve economic difficulties in the country, Asalıoğlu said.
The leaders of Turkey and Greece, most likely, go to the normalization of relations under pressure from the authorities of the European Union, believes the Balkanist Oleg Bondarenko.
“Against the background of the Ukrainian crisis, European states are not interested in the emergence of other potentially conflict points in the region.
I believe that the idea of normalizing Greek-Turkish relations belongs more to Brussels than to Ankara and Athens, ” the expert believes.
On the other hand, Bondarenko continues, in the foreseeable future the parties will not be able to eliminate all existing contradictions, and future negotiations will take place for the sake of negotiations.
“The problem of the shelf of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus is of a fundamental nature for both Ankara and Athens.
Therefore, I do not expect any breakthroughs in the negotiation process.
Probably, in Thessaloniki, the leaders will sign a declaration of intent, and everyone will stop there, ” the expert said.

Title:

Content: Where does the United States stand in the tension between Turkey and Greece?
Once again, tensions are brewing in relations between Turkey and Greece.
The first accused the second of harassing its fighters during a NATO mission, then followed by sharp statements from both sides, and then returned Greek boats to target a commercial ship in international waters, according to Ankara.
Erdogan warned Athens that his country "may come suddenly one night", in a symbolic gesture not devoid of significance, to begin talks of the possibility of military clash and war.
In such an environment, especially on the sidelines of the Russian-Ukrainian war, attention is being paid to the position of the alliance, and specifically the United States, on the existing tension.
The traditional position
In addition to the historical heritage between the two countries, Greece and Turkey differ on several files, foremost of which is the Cyprus issue, the arming of Greece some islands in the Aegean and the demarcation of the maritime border between the two countries, which reflects on the competition for wealth, especially natural gas.
Thus, in recent decades, calm has become closer to the state of exception between the two countries, while tension and escalation hardly fade until they return to the front.
The Turkish intervention in Cyprus in 1974 was indirectly directed against Greece, the Greek Cypriot backer, and in 1996, the two countries came close to direct military confrontation following a dispute over one of the Aegean islands.
In 2020, there was friction between the ships of the two countries in the Mediterranean, due to gas exploration activities in the disputed areas, and the current wave of tension seems to be a new link in the series of tensions on the ground of contentious issues that have not been resolved to date.
In all these contentious issues, the United States has declared its neutrality between the two sides, sometimes seeking to mediate between them, on the grounds that they are members of NATO and have relations of alliance and partnership with both.
In Cyprus, Washington maintained its position of supporting efforts to unify the island with a penchant for a federal solution, and took a decision to stop selling arms to Cypriots in order to maintain calm and curb the tracks of the arms race between the two sides.
It also played the role of mediator between the two bitter neighbors in the recent escalation between them in the summer of 2020, after which the two sides resumed exploratory rounds of dialogue.
A relative bias?
In recent years, however, there appears to have been a shift in Washington ’ s attitude toward the relative alignment of Greece and Greek Cyprus.
At the height of tension between the two sides in 2020, Pompeo visited Greek Cyprus, from where he urged Turkey to “stop the activities that provoke tension in the eastern Mediterranean, ” then announced the lifting of the country ’ s arms embargo on Cyprus, and visited Greece a month later“ to support Turkey in their border dispute, ” according to a US State Department statement at the time.
Recent years have seen the United States strengthen its military presence in Greece, along with strained relations with Turkey.
In October 2021, the two sides signed an agreement to update their mutual defense cooperation agreement, allowing increased space for U.S. activity in Greece and allowing U.S. troops to train and operate at additional bases outside their former bases in the country.
Washington ’ s construction of new bases in Greece and Crete in particular has alarmed Ankara, especially as it coincided with joint military exercises with Greece near the Turkish border and in periods of tension between Ankara and Athens.
Therefore, the Turkish president underestimated the credibility of the American narrative that the high level of cooperation with Greece is intended to confront Russia, suggesting that it is also targeting his country, and his foreign minister promised the new American positions "a violation of the policy of balance between Turkey and Greece and between the Turkish Republic of Cyprus and the administration of South Cyprus."
It is no secret that the administration of Joe Biden is not completely comfortable with the Turkish president and his positions on a number of issues, most recently the Russian-Ukrainian war, although it certainly praised Turkish efforts in the Ukrainian grain export deal, but Erdogan ’ s participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand may increase the level of American dissatisfaction expressed by the American president during his election campaign.
Where does Washington stand?
Today, with a new round of tension between the two countries, retired generals on both sides say that war between them is inevitable if not today and tomorrow, where exactly does the United States stand?
In principle, it is not in Washington ’ s interest to have a direct military clash, as well as a full-scale war, between two countries within NATO, not with the alliance, led by the United States, fighting a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, on which it wants to focus and remain united without side battles.
The Russo-Ukrainian war prompted NATO and the European Union to reassess post-war security threats to Europe, including Turkey ’ s perceived and anticipated role in these threats.
Therefore, the writer of these lines does not see that the visit of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Turkey months ago, and his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan and his talk about giving priority to talk in the files of cooperation instead of controversial files; a Greek self-orientation, but the visit was implicit in the name of the Western bloc, the European Union, NATO and led by the United States.
But a closer look at the developments in Washington ’ s relations with both Ankara and Athens in the last few years says they are not the same.
On Greece ’ s side there is talk of close cooperation, a willingness to sell them upgraded F16 and possibly F35 fighter jets (Greece has requested it), an increase in the number of military bases and joint exercises.
On Ankara ’ s side, there are frequent tensions, sanctions, removal from the F-35 project, procrastination in the F-35 deal to upgrade Turkish fighter jets and purchase new ones, and talk in Congress about the possibility of selling on terms Turkey rejects.
If Turkey sees the Greek-American cooperation from some point of view as a threat to it and something that targets it, the file of the F-16 fighter jets has become vital for it, as it is directly linked to the balance of the air force in the context of any possible confrontation with Greece, and the possibility that the latter ’ s air fleet will become an advanced position over Turkey in the coming years.
Therefore, Erdogan recently talked about Turkey not limiting its options to the F-16 if the US procrastination continues, and that his country has "alternative options", including Russian fighter jets.
It is also no secret that the Biden administration is not completely comfortable with the Turkish president and his positions on a number of issues, most recently the Russian-Ukrainian war, although it certainly praised Turkish efforts in the Ukrainian grain export deal.
Perhaps Erdogan ’ s participation in the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand may increase the level of American dissatisfaction, which the US president expressed during his election campaign.
For all of the above, it can be said that the United States is closer in position to Athens than to Ankara, and may find the tension between the two sides an opportunity to put more pressure on Erdogan and Turkey.
The tension between the two countries with the possibility of a direct clash between them, although the chances are small at present, is beneficial to Washington, as it increases the need for both of its position, support and role, which keeps it a reference to the two capitals and gives it more influence on them politically, and may give it additional contracts on better terms with them in the field of armaments, as happened with the previous tension in 2020 when Washington returned to sell arms to Nicosia.
All of this does not mean that Washington wants a war between the two countries, especially in light of the confrontation with Moscow, but is expected to seek mediation between them in the event of the events rolling over, directly or through the gate of NATO.
The officials ’ statements and the State Department ’ s statements also show a measure of expected neutrality based on “urging the two sides ” to calm down, return to dialogue and avoid clashes, including a survey of a NATO Twitter account congratulating Turkey on“ Victory Day ” at the end of last month, which refers to a battle between Turks and Greeks, after the protest of Athens, so as not to be counted as a one-sided position amid tension.
Perhaps what reduces the level of American involvement in the current tension is the assessment that it is temporary and transient and will not lead to a clash on the ground between the two countries.
But there are fears that the election atmosphere that will prevail in the two countries in the coming months will raise the level of tension and raise the risk of a clash, which is supposed to sound the alarm on both sides, Ankara and Athens, including Washington.

## Historical Background

### The Removal
In the early 19th century, Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (which then controlled Greece), removed approximately half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon between 1801 and 1812.

Title:

Content: Could this corruption scandal signal the end of the EU?

Allegations that MEPs have been taking huge cash bribes shine a light on inner workings

Police seizures of suitcases stuffed full of cash are usually the result of crackdowns on crime gangs or drug lords. This time, though, the brick-like wads of €50 notes were found not by the vice squad, but by detectives investigating allegations of corruption in the European Parliament.

Brussels has been gripped this week by stories of an international bribery ring said to involve Qatar, Morocco and influential EU figures. Colossal sums of money have been found in the homes of some of the alleged recipients: €600,000 in bank notes at the home of an Italian politician, €150,000 tucked into the luxury luggage of a Greek socialist MEP, and hundreds of thousands more in the possession of her father.

In all, more than €1.5 million (£1.3m) has been seized in raids on 19 locations in the Belgian capital and in Italy, some of which were in the Parliament itself.

The investigation centres on claims that Qatar tried to buy influence in order to help secure an “open skies” deal that would give its airlines unfettered access to EU markets and airspace. It is, without question, the biggest bribery scandal in the history of the European Union’s institutions, and it could well get much worse, with reports that up to 60 MEPs could be dragged into it.

Four people, including Eva Kaili, a Greek MEP who was until this week a vice-president of the Parliament, have so far been charged with corruption, with the prospect of high-profile court cases to come. They have denied wrongdoing.

Opponents of the European project will be hoping that the entire edifice will collapse under the weight of its own hubris. Europhiles hope the EU will get its act together and finally draw up effective rules on lobbying. Brexiteers, of course, are nodding with satisfaction at the crisis paralysing an organisation they always thought was thoroughly rotten.

For some, it is the sheer scale of the probe that has come as a shock. For others, it is the blatant nature of the alleged bribes that is so breathtaking. Yet the truth is that few people with experience of Brussels politics are surprised at the idea that corruption exists.

“There is nothing new here and nothing is going to change,” says Nigel Farage, who spent years trying to expose wrongdoing by his fellow MEPs before achieving his goal of getting Britain out of the EU.

The question of how it happened is easy to answer: an abject failure by the European Parliament to install checks and balances against lobbyists trying to bribe MEPs. As to why it happened, there is a widespread acceptance that the European Parliament has earned a reputation as a place where cash bribes can be offered and will be accepted. Far more difficult to predict is the long-term effect the scandal will have on the EU and its structures.

Annalena Baerbock, the German minister of foreign affairs, said the crisis had put the “credibility” and legitimacy of the EU on the line, and called for meaningful reform. There is little sign yet that the scandal is increasing the appetite of other member states to follow Britain and break free, but the investigation by an anti-corruption unit of the Belgian police is far from over and it is impossible to know where it might end.

The phrase “tip of the iceberg” comes up repeatedly in conversations with those who have deep-seated knowledge of Brussels, or corruption inquiries, or both. Michiel van Hulten, director of Transparency International EU, blames a “culture of impunity”, with which he has been familiar ever since his own days as an MEP in the 1990s.

“I'm pretty certain that we will see more names linked to this scandal,” he says. “I also think it will lead to other instances of undue influence and corruption being detected. Because this is not limited to Qatar. There are other instances where there is suspected undue influence or bribery going on.”

Van Hulten’s organisation received an anonymous email tip-off last year alleging MEPs were being bribed. Some of the names in the email – which has been passed on to police – have now been linked to the Qatar investigation, but Van Hulten says: “There were seven names on the list, including names that have not yet been published. So that is why I say I don't think these are isolated incidents.”

Vincent van Quickenborne, the Belgian justice minister, has described the investigation as a “game changer”, but the question for Brussels and its opaque institutions is whether it can genuinely clear out the Augean stables, or will just give a collective shrug and look the other way.

Brussels has long had a reputation as one of the world’s great gravy trains, with MEPs paid a flat rate of £293 for every day they are in Brussels or Strasbourg, to cover meals and accommodation, on top of their £100,000 salary, and £4,157 per year for travel and accommodation outside their home country.

Like almost any parliament, it has had its fair share of corruption, ranging from abuse of expenses and nepotism to a “cash for amendments” scandal a decade ago, but the scale and nature of “Qatargate” is unprecedented.

It might never have been uncovered had it not been for a chance discovery by spies working for the Belgian secret service. Suspecting foreign interference in EU institutions, they launched an investigation more than a year ago, which led them to the home of Pier Antonio Panzeri, 67, an Italian former MEP. Agents broke into his home in July, and discovered €600,000 (£523,000) in his house, but because they are not allowed to investigate MEPs they left it in place, covered up all traces of the break-in and tipped off the Belgian police’s Central Office for the Repression of Corruption.

The police quietly opened their own investigation, but it was not until December 9 that they showed their hand, with 20 raids on 19 locations in Brussels and eight arrests in Belgium and Italy.

One of the addresses searched was the home of newsreader turned politician Eva Kaili, 44, and her husband Francesco Giorgi, 35, an EU parliamentary aide. Giorgi has links to a human rights group called Fight Impunity, whose president is Pier Antonio Panzeri. Police found €150,000 in cash (£130,000) inside luggage in the house, with another €750,000 (£653,000) found at addresses connected to Kaili’s father Alexandros, a former politician.

Kaili’s legal team insists the money “was not from Qatar and was not any kickback from Qatar”. Another €20,000 (£17,400) was found at Giorgi’s Italian home.

Much of the money was newly issued, meaning the police should be able to trace the identity of whoever withdrew it, in a further example of the apparent amateurishness of the operation.

Police photographs of the cash seizures showed they had been found in strongboxes, a cardboard box and a paper carrier bag, as well as a wheeled flight case.

Kaili’s lawyer told the media this week: “Her partner brought the money into the flat. It is not hers. There is no Qatar connection.”

Seven people were arrested in Brussels, including Kaili, her father, Giorgi and Panzeri, and in Italy police arrested Panzeri’s wife and daughter via a European Arrest Warrant that disclosed allegations of “gifts” received from Morocco as well as Qatar.

According to the latest reports, Qatar had enlisted the services of Morocco, with which it has close ties, because Rabat has a far more established intelligence network in Brussels than the Gulf state. Both countries deny wrongdoing.

Four people were charged with money laundering, corruption and participating in a criminal organisation: Kaili, Giorgi, Panzeri and Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, secretary-general of the NGO No Peace Without Justice. All have denied wrongdoing.

Other properties searched by the police included the homes of four parliamentary assistants, two advisers, a European Parliament official, and the vice chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation to the Gulf.

Then, on Tuesday, the Strasbourg offices of Italian MEP Pietro Bartolo and a parliamentary official were sealed by police. On the same day, the European Parliament voted to strip Kaili of her vice presidency.

Wednesday brought the first court appearance of the suspects; Panzeri and Giorgi were both remanded in custody, Figa-Talamanca was granted conditional bail and Kaili’s appearance was postponed until December 22 because of a prison officers’ strike.

The reaction in Brussels has been swift. A vote on introducing visa-free travel between Qatar and the EU has been postponed, and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, accused Qatar of trying to buy influence in the Parliament and said a new body was needed to uphold rules on ethics across all of the EU’s institutions. Critics, however, were quick to point out that she had promised to do something similar when she got the job three years ago and that nothing has happened since.

One of the most obvious failures of transparency is that, while European Commissioners have to declare all meetings with lobbyists in a public register, MEPs are under no such obligation. Another inherent problem in the system is that some MEPs have a form of diplomatic immunity, depending on the laws in their home nations. When it comes to law-breaking, Belgian police will treat MEPs in the same way that they would be treated in their own country. A European Parliament briefing document states that “while in some countries [immunity] is limited to a guaranteed freedom of speech in parliamentary debates, in others it amounts to a broader protection from prosecution”.

When police wanted to search Kaili’s home, for example, Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, had to fly back to Brussels from her home in Malta to be present during the search in order for it to be legal.

Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law at the HEC business school in Paris and founder of the transparency campaign The Good Lobby, says the Parliament had become “fertile soil” for corruption for reasons that have always been obvious.

“The root cause of Qatargate has to do with the limited accountability of an institution which is not visible to the average citizen,” he says.

“It is also related to the mediocrity of most of the MEPs – they are second, third, fourth tier national politicians who have been sent to Brussels. There's no doubt that it's much easier to influence, much easier to get access to the European Parliament than to any other EU institution because it's a very atomised organisation with 700 members of parliament, different political groups, a lot of commissions, working groups, so it's much more permeable to this kind of external influence.”

Farage thinks the police would uncover even more egregious crimes if they looked at other cogs in the Brussels machine. “The thing that has always fascinated me is that if that is going on in the European Parliament – which is just a rubber-stamping body – what the hell is happening up the road at the European Commission, because it’s the Commission that has the sole right to propose legislation and repeal it. I think the great untold story is around the Commission.”

He says British observers make the mistake of assuming that corruption scandals would be viewed with as much horror abroad as they are in the UK. “There is a, predominantly southern European, attitude towards what you and I would call corruption where they just shrug their shoulders and think it’s OK,” he says. “It has been that way forever.”

There was certainly some shrugging – in private at least – at the year’s final European Council summit of member states this week. “It must be a case of nationality,” says one official, waving away any suggestion that the institution itself was at fault.

Others are exploiting the scandal for political gain. The centre-Right European People’s Party (EPP) has tried to promote the idea that corruption is confined to the Socialists and Democrats group, saying: “The holier-than-thou S&D group is at the epicentre of Qatargate.

“There has been a consistent effort to turn Qatargate into an institutional issue alone. But this scandal is not an orphan. It did not appear out of nowhere. It did not happen by itself. It has a name. It has an address. And that’s the S&D Group.”

With impeccable timing, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it was also investigating Greek MEP Maria Spyraki, a member of the EPP, for fraud relating to parliamentary allowances. There is no indication that the investigation into her is linked to payments from foreign countries. “I do not have any economic differences with the European Parliament, not even by a single euro,” she says.

Robert Barrington, Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice at the University of Sussex’s Centre for the Study of Corruption, says the culture and reputation of EU institutions has invited approaches from corrupt powers.

“There is clearly an expectation that you can turn up to the Parliament with a suitcase full of money and buy somebody,” he says. “Is that because there was known to be a rotten individual or that you could cultivate people and get them into position?

“Brussels has one of the highest concentrations of lobbyists in the world. At the same time, the European Parliament has insufficient oversight, transparency and accountability to ensure such lobbying is carried out properly and fairly.

“It was extraordinarily unsubtle to hand over suitcases of cash, and very foolish to accept them. But that has provided compelling evidence of corruption at the heart of the EU's institutions, and this is most unlikely to be an isolated case.”

“The job is well paid,” says van Hulten. “There are perks and expenses that, if you don't use them for their intended purpose, can constitute a nice little earner on top of your regular salary.

“And unfortunately, I think the parliament attracts people who are primarily interested in that and not so much the policy work. That's the minority, but still it's the minority that then causes the kind of problems that we're seeing today.”

"The citizens of the European Union must look at it and be totally amazed, thinking 'What is going on?',” says Nikolaj Villumsen, a Danish MEP. “It will clearly be misused by Putin, Orban and the other crooks who themselves are being criticised for corrupt behaviour, but can now point the finger at the European Parliament.

“That's why urgent action is needed. We need protections for whistleblowers, as well as clear, mandatory registration of lobbying on behalf of third countries. If the European Union takes itself seriously, of course, we should have an independent oversight body, and all these important transparency rules should be in place. We have been calling for this for years.”

The events of the past week show that at least the Belgian police have taken allegations of corruption seriously. Their investigation is ongoing and it could be months before its full extent is known.

Only then will it be clear whether the European Parliament has a future in its current form, or whether the EU will finally have to accept that democracy can only be achieved with accountability.

These ancient Greek marble sculptures, created in the 5th century BC under the supervision of the sculptor Phidias, originally decorated the Parthenon temple on the Athenian Acropolis.

Title:

Content: 2021 Event Review _ Jie Shi Carries More Than 100 Years of History Folk Groups to Investigate Treasure Climbing and Wading
Author ： Zeng Fengting Lu Nuojun
Published: Updated:
Since the demolition of the historic Bishop Hill Reservoir last year, the public has reconsidered the importance of community conservation.
The existing heritage conservation policy protects, preserves and revitalizes historical and heritage buildings and sites in an appropriate and sustainable manner. It seems that the policy focuses on historical buildings, but it is not only historical buildings that deserve to be preserved.
Some private conservation groups believe that boundary stones are necessary for conservation. Although the exploration of boundary stones is rough and the preparation is cumbersome, they have not stopped their steps and abandoned the excavation of these community treasures.
This year, a number of boundary stones which the Secretary for Development described as "of great historical significance" have been discovered by non-governmental organizations. At the same time, the boundary stones of the Wan Chai Navy and the Gascoigne Road lots have been removed, causing concern for the boundary stones.
Under the epidemic, the frequency of Hong Kong people visiting the countryside has increased, which is one of the reasons why different boundary stones are gradually being discovered.
James and Ebee of Hong Kong Heritage, a folk conservation group, are hiking enthusiasts who have made great efforts to preserve Hong Kong ’ s boundary stone data. They revealed that after discovering the boundary stone at the site of the old Governor ’ s Peak Villa at the top of the mountain in February this year, they decided to set up the Hong Kong Heritage Trail, hoping to do their part in documenting the history of Hong Kong.
Ebee recalls that it was not the first time the boundary stone had been discovered. “It was, but I didn ’ t know what the old stone was. ”
Driven by curiosity, she went online to find information and tried to find the story of the stone.
However, contrary to wishes, the online information is limited, only from the report of the Office of Monuments and Monuments, it was found that the location involved was the site of the old Governor's Peak Villa, and during a comprehensive survey in 2007, eight boundary stones erected in 1910 and two boundary stones of the military headquarters were found.
At the time, I was thinking, since the data is so hard to find, why don't we finish it, put it on the Internet and let people see it, and make a record.
We want to at least know where to start and make a record, so we don't know if we'll ever see it again.
Hong Kong Travel Member Ebee
+ 1
Finding Boundary Stones takes time, but never gives up.
The website and page of the Hong Kong Trail came into being.
However, it will not be easy to unearth these treasures in various areas. James and Ebee will first collect, organize and classify the relics and related records of Hong Kong ’ s history and culture from the Internet, then conduct field visits and exploration, use RTK GPS to record the location of the site and take photos, and then need to climb mountains, wade through the dense forest, and walk through the hidden ancient trails.
Due to the age of each site, they spend a lot of time searching for and checking historical materials. For example, they use maps from different years to map the current location, and gradually narrow the area where boundary stones may exist.
After all the arrangement is completed, they will input the location of the site into their website system and store the records in categories for free inspection by interested parties.
At present, they receive frequent reports from mountain lovers, but emphasize that they will carefully check and record them once they find out.
On the day of the visit, James and Ebee took the reporter to Wenhui Road (the site of the former Army Sanatorium in Majixian Gorge), where the military boundary stone was just discovered, to tell the history of the nearby area.
They described it as the oldest military site in Hong Kong, and it has a complete distribution of military land, including spare lots engraved with “MR ”.
It is worth noting that there are only three military boundary stones engraved with the words “BO ” and“ WD ” on both sides inside Hong Kong, all of which are located in the vicinity of Man Fai Road.
In the past, you can find the corresponding data from the boundary stone.
Hong Kong Travel Member Ebee
Boundary Stone Marking Reveals the Secret History of the Lot
After leaving Man Fai Road, the next stop is the Peak Benji Road. James and Ebee point out that the Peak Benji Road area used to be one of the concentrations of naval military facilities, including the Navy Commodore ’ s Villa, Men ’ s Nursing Home, Officer ’ s Nursing Home and Sedan ’ s Quarters.
With the exception of the Navy Commodore's Villa, which was severely damaged after World War II and demolished in 1950, other military facilities were repaired and converted into staff quarters at the Hilltop Hospital until it was converted into Cloudridge in the 1970s.
You can find the history of the former Commodore ’ s villa, the three “AL ” naval boundary stones located nearby for many years, and the cornerstone of the 1897 memorial of the wife of Commodore Swinton Holland in Hong Kong.
Although the building has been demolished and only part of the floor tiles and the above boundary stones remain, the site of the former Commodore's Villa has been successfully identified by matching the relevant old photos and information.
Ebee believes that this shows the purpose of the boundary stone, even if the building no longer exists, but still can rely on the marker on the boundary stone to find the history behind it. "What was there in the past and what was used for it, you can find the corresponding data from the boundary stone."
The boundary stone will also disappear due to the alteration or various works carried out on the site. This is why Hong Kong Trail is dedicated to finding boundary stone. "We want to know at least where the boundary was first, and make a record, whether it will not be seen in the future or not."
They have been preserved for hundreds of years, and if they can be preserved well, they can be kept for hundreds of years, and recorded for the next generation.
Hong Kong Travel Member Ebee
Engineering is far more destructive than human destruction.
In just eight months, Ebee said, the results of the page were better than expected.
In addition to arousing public attention to the boundary stone, it has also attracted many hiking and history enthusiasts to join hands to search for the stone archaeology, and speed up the discovery of the boundary stone. "If you do not do, do not talk about (conservation work), (cultural relics) will disappear around you."
Asked about the location of all boundary stones, whether he was worried that boundary stones would be easily destroyed, Ebee believes that the destructive power of the project is far greater than the man-made damage, "once the project is done, it will basically disappear forever".
In just eight months, Ebee said, the results of the page were better than expected.
Apart from arousing public concern about the boundary stone, many hiking and history enthusiasts have also been attracted to join forces to search for the stone archeology and speed up the discovery of the boundary stone. (photo by Tsang Fung-ting)
If you do not do, do not talk about (conservation work), (cultural relics) will disappear without knowing.
Hong Kong Travel Member Ebee
At present, the Monuments and Monuments Office has added boundary stones of historical value to the list of "Government Heritage Sites as defined by the Antiquities and Monuments Office" for protection.
Before the deadline, there were already 20 protected sites related to boundary stones on the list, but Ebee is still worried that boundary stone conservation may not be ideal. "The family has been preserved for more than 100 years, and if it can be preserved well, it can be preserved for hundreds of years and recorded for the next generation."
James believes that the heritage rating system in Hong Kong needs to be improved. The only recent changes to the historical buildings assessment form are outdated 16 years ago.
In foreign countries such as Canada, boundary stones and nearby historical buildings are rated as part of the building.
On the other hand, Hong Kong only includes boundary stones in government heritage sites, and there is no system for grading heritage sites.
(photo by Lu Nuo-chun)
James added that Canada will rate boundary stones and nearby historical buildings as part of a building, while Hong Kong only lists boundary stones as government heritage sites and does not have a heritage rating system. James believes that Hong Kong ’ s heritage rating system needs to be improved, and the only historical buildings assessment form, which has been updated 16 years ago, is clearly out of date.
In addition, some boundary stones are located in private areas, it is important to find a suitable conservation method.
He suggested that the authorities could assist in the reprovisioning of boundary stones on nearby government land so as to prevent boundary stones from disappearing, being forgotten or losing their original role in helping to identify the history of the site.

Title:

Content: Alexander Gorbarukov IA REGNUM
When, during a visit to Greece, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made public statements linking the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne to the situation of the Turkish Muslim minority in Greek Thrace, he surprised not only the Greeks, but, according to Turkish journalist Murat Etkin, the Turks themselves.
As the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah clarifies, the Turkish population of Western Thrace was not granted minority status under the 1923 agreement, so the Greek government does not recognize its ethnic identity, arguing that the expression “Turkish minority ” is not included in the Treaty of Lausanne.
The discussion Erdogan opened, as they say, live.
At first, he gave an interview to the Greek media, where he raised the issue.
And then, when Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said that the revision of the Treaty of Lausanne was out of the question, his Turkish counterpart countered: the agreement was concluded not only with Athens, but also with 11 countries (that is, not only Greece alone to decide whether it can be ruled or not), and it must be implemented in full.
“We have made very important decisions to meet the needs of our citizens, the ethnic Greeks, and we have the right to expect similar behavior from Athens, ” Erdogan said, speaking to the community in Komotini, where he attended Friday prayers at the Kırmahalla mosque.
A minority of 150,000 people (according to other estimates, 130,000 – SS), he called “the bridge between Turkey and Greece. ”
At the same time, one of the main problems in the region is the issue with the clergy - there are elected muftis who are not recognized by the Greek authorities, and there are muftis whom the authorities appoint.
At that time, the president stressed, as the Constantinople “patriarch in Turkey is not appointed, but elected by the Synod. ”
He added: “We demand that the Greek government does not seek to assimilate our brothers, ” putting forward the thesis of“ integration instead of assimilation. ”
R4BIA.com
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Such a demarche of Erdogan caused many questions from observers.
and interpretations.
According to Yetkin, the president has drawn Turkey ’ s attention to the long-standing problem with Athens at a time when the world is busy with another crisis: US President Donald Trump ’ s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel ’ s capital.
Why, in this case, did Erdogan not raise his tone towards Washington, but instead chose to focus on Lausanne?
Therefore, says the Turkish journalist, he is trying to maintain control over potential anti-American protests to “avoid undesirable consequences. ”
Some Greek political scientists believe that the high guest is making a diversion, wanting to stir up Greece.
In turn, Professor of Bilkent University (Ankara) Ioannis Grigoriadis notes that the positioning of Turkey as a defender of Muslim minorities in the Balkans is a traditional foreign policy line of Ankara.
According to the expert, Erdogan would in any case mention the Muslim minority in Greece, appealing to his Turkish “right wing, this is his base. ”
However, in our opinion, there are important nuances.
The speech of the Turkish President in Greece was supported by his opponent, the head of the opposition Republican People ’ s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, which is a rarity in modern times.
While in London, he spoke at the prestigious Chatham House think tank.
“Minorities living in Turkey can elect their religious leaders in accordance with the Treaty of Lausanne, but Greece does not comply with this rule, ” he said.
Despite the current situation, appointed muftis have the power to decide family and hereditary disputes of local Muslims under Sharia law.
However, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras recently visited the region, who called the use of sharia what “does not do us honor as a country of the European Union ”.
And the Greek Ministry of Education is currently consulting on a legislative reform that should allow members of the Muslim minority to choose either Islamic law or customary law to resolve problems with marriage, divorce and inheritance.
According to the Turkish government agency Anadolu, Kılıçdaroğlu stressed that during his stay in Greece he visited the elected mufti instead of the state-appointed one, adding that Athens must comply with the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in this regard.
And this was also referred to by Erdogan himself when he was in Thrace, who addressed the local minority with the following words: “We want you to be able to take advantage of all the benefits of the Lausanne Treaty in accordance with the international principle of human rights and the European Union.
In this regard, we are waiting for the decision of the ECHR. ”
Taking into account the reminder by the President of Turkey that the Lausanne Treaty was concluded with 11 countries, among which many are European powers, introducing the EU factor into the context of the minority problem in Greece, it can be assumed that Ankara gives a pass to the EU, but wants to do it on its own terms, on the one hand.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
On the other hand, in this dialogue, Erdogan is not so much Ataturk, indifferent, if not hostile to religions, as the Ottoman Sultan, in whose empire religious communities were integrated into a single system, and the Christian minority had certain rights and powers.
Hence, it is no coincidence that in the current Turkish Republic, the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople enjoy self-government.
It is no coincidence that Erdogan ’ s intention to attend the opening of St. Stephen ’ s Church in Istanbul on January 7 next year, along with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Patriarch Neophyte of Bulgaria, also evokes historical memories of the times of the Ottoman Empire.
Ankara wants to integrate in this way neo-Ottomanism with the once taken course towards Europe.
But will the Europeans decide?
Including against the background of the fact that Saudi Arabia is beginning to flirt with the EU, which recently announced the opening of a mission in Brussels and the intention of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to switch to “moderate Islam ”?
Events will show.

### Acquisition by the British Museum
Elgin transported the sculptures to Britain, where they were eventually purchased by the British government in