www.todayszaman.comTurkey is sending some of its most valued artifacts to foreign exhibitions, along with an insurance fee that in some cases approaches eight figures.
The Turkish Tourism and Culture Ministry has asked the Netherlands, Germany and Italy to extend the scope of the insurance protecting the traveling artifacts against plane crashes and acts of terrorism. Although they were at first reluctant to pay the enormous additional amount, they eventually agreed to Turkey's demand.
Turkey signed an exhibition agreement with Amsterdam on Dec. 14, 2006, Italy on Jan. 10 and Germany on Jan. 20. These countries did not want to pay for the additional insurance at first, but their thriftiness was abrogated by their desire to exhibit the artifacts.
The historical artifacts were originally only insured against theft and natural disaster; however, the increasing number of plane crashes and terrorist attacks compelled the Culture and Tourism Ministry to ask for additional protective measures.
The only case excluded from the scope of insurance is the outbreak of war. Three hundred eighty-six valuable artifacts were sent to Germany, costing $93 million. This protective step was first put into effect for the artifacts sent to the Netherlands for the “
Istanbul: City and the Sultan†exhibition. The second agreement was signed with Italy for the “Turkey: A 7,000-Year History†exhibition. The third agreement was signed with Germany for the “Anatolia 12,000 Years Ago: The Oldest Artifacts in Mankind's History†exhibition to be opened on Jan. 20. Orhan Düzgün, director-general of museums and cultural assets of the ministry of culture and tourism, said the same procedure would be applied for the historical artifacts sent abroad from now on. |