Cyprus: Aspects of the Problem

The Cypriot and foreign press, as well as the testimonies given to the authorities of the Republic by various sources, prove that more than 500 Greek Orthodox churches and chapels and 17 monasteries that are located in towns and villages of the occupied part of our island have been pillaged, deliberately vandalised and/or torn down. The current location of their ecclesiastical furnishings and items (which include more than 15.000 portable icons) remains unknown to this day. The most significant and priceless of these icons have already been auctioned off and sold by art dealers abroad. Since the summer of 1974, all the legitimate archaeological excavations in the occupied part of the island in the Districts of Ammochostos (Famagusta), Kerynia and Morfou were interrupted and transferred to the free areas of Cyprus.

Unique archaeological remains dating to all the historical periods of Cypriot civilization, including countless sculptures, ceramics, figurines, statuettes, basins, tools, weapons, manuscripts, historical accounts and other works of art have been stolen and illegally exported to be sold at high prices in the international market. This is a clear indication that illegal excavation of archaeological areas is commoplace.

The Department of Antiquities has both evidence and testimonies of destruction that has occurred not only due to abandonment but also to illegal excavations, looting and/or building activities. This information has reached the Department of Antiquities either via articles in the Turkish-Cypriot press sometimes accompanied with photographs, or via various government sources. Most sites and monuments have been given Turkish names in an attempt to disassociate them from their origin and context, thus alienating them from their true identity.

In addition to the looting of museums in the occupied areas, illegal exportation of antiquities and smuggling of items permanently exhibited or displayed in the museums or forming part of unpublished material from the storerooms of foreign archaeological missions, was reported. The Department of Antiquities has similar testimonies concerning missing Byzantine icons, ecclesiastical vessels, embroideries and woodcarvings from the Bishopric of Kerynia, as well as all the icons and manuscripts kept, until 1974, in the Centre for the Conservation of Icons and Manuscripts of the Monastery of Agios Spyridon in Tremetousia. These activities are tangible proof for the total lack of respect towards the Greek Orthodox places of worship, and by the Turks in the occupied areas.
Read this at > Press and Information Office - Aspects of the Problem