For more than a hundred years, Greece has demanded that the British Museum return a set of marble sculptures that were hacked off of the famous Parthenon temple by a British nobleman in the early 19th century, when Athens was part of the Ottoman Empire.
The Greek position is that the marbles were taken illegitimately and that they should be viewed in their original setting. But the British have always said Lord Elgin got official permission from the Sultan to take the sculptures, which he later sold to the British Museum.
But did he? The Turkish government, official successor to the Ottomans, now says that it has found no archival evidence that any such permission was ever given. Zilch.
For anyone who knows the fraught history of Turkey-Greece relations, it is very unusual for one side to give the other an assist like this.
The Daily’s Matt Kendrick suggests this meme might help to explain it …
In recent months, the possibility of the British Museum lending the marbles has gained some momentum, thought the two sides are still far apart on conditions.
We are now watching to see if the Turkish statement contributes to any unstiffening of the British Museum’s upper lip when it comes to the fate of the marbles, which we too would like to see in Athens one day (hides under desk.)
(Losing your marbles? See Alex Kliment and Molly Rubin’s GZERO Report on the Parthenon controversy and the broader politics of cultural repatriation here.)