“There was never any Ottoman firman that allowed Elgin to treat the Parthenon Sculptures with the barbarity with which he treated them… the representative of Turkiye confirmed what the Greek side has argued for years – that there was no firman,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said in Rhodes, according to a culture ministry announcement on Tuesday.
She was commenting on developments relating to the Parthenon Sculptures at the 24th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property, which concluded on Friday.
“As is known, one of the standing issues on the daily agenda in the last 40 years concerns the Parthenon Sculptures. This time also, the Committee ended with a recommendation that calls on the two sides, the British and Greek, to resolve this issue that goes back several decades. Greece is, always, open to dialogue. It has tried and will continue to try so that the great national goal – which is to satisfy the national demand for the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures in Athens, in the Acropolis Museum – becomes a reality. One of the interesting points of the session was the discussion that took place regarding Elgin’s oft-discussed – quote-unquote – “firman”. I put this in quotes because this is an argument of the British side that has never, however, been proved to be genuine. There was never any Ottoman firman that allowed Elgin to treat the Parthenon Sculptures with the barbarity with which he treated them. At the session, the representative of Turkiye confirmed what the Greek side has argued for years – that there was no firman,” Mendoni said.