Walk of Truth gives me a platform to continue the idea that culture can be what connects us, not what divides us. It can only be achieved if we stop pretending we are the same and explore and discover each other’s diversity with respect. The cultural history of the world belongs to each of us, which is why we must all contribute to protect it. Walk of Truth gives me the opportunity to continue my repatriation work and to engage the public in my efforts.
After I witnessed the destruction of cultural heritage taking place in other parts of the world, I decided to share my network of contacts and expertise to empower others living or fleeing from areas of conflict to be engaged in the repatriation of their own arts. I launched Cultural Crime Watchers Worldwide (CCWW), which will provide a twenty-four-hour anonymous hotline for refugees, displaced citizens, and individuals around the globe to join me as peaceful warriors in the battle against the destruction of cultural heritage and art trafficking. CCWW will allow individuals to report the looting, destruction, and trading of cultural heritage with the goal of encouraging ethical trade.
As a refugee, I hope to inspire millions of other refugees around the world to see that they can make a difference. My way was to see to the return of the sacred artifacts and I invite everyone out there to join my movement of peaceful warriors wishing to reclaim their identity.
These priceless artifacts and antiquities that hold a road map to our past and shed light on our advance into a civilized society are treated without regard for their spiritual and emotional value. When a religious monument is conquered by another faith like the Church of Ayia Sofia in Istanbul, the resentment and mistrust is passed from generation to generation. Without trust, there can be no peace and reconciliation.
We create a demand with our greed and justify our actions to buy and sell religious symbols because we have lost our moral compass.
THE WRAP UP
Munich
In September 2010, the Bavarian court issues a decision and rules in favor of Cyprus. Dikmen, files and appeal. The court rules that some of the artifacts will be returned to Cyprus in March of 2013.1
In March of 2013, the Bavarian court issued a partial decision clearing the way for 173 of those Cypriot artifacts from the Munich sting to return to Cyprus. The remaining artifacts that were taken from churches in the occupied area that cannot be sufficiently proven to be of Cypriot origin, require further investigation.2 One of the sacred artifacts returning to Cyprus is the Saint Thomas mosaic from the Church of Panagia Kanakaria and it along with other returned artifacts are now displayed in the Byzantine Museum of Cyprus in Nicosia.
In March of 2015, the Bavarian court issues a decision on the Munich case in regard to the fate of another thirty-four artifacts. It is decided that these artifacts will also return to Cyprus. There are forty-nine additional artifacts where sufficient proof of provenance has not been provided and these will be auctioned off in Germany.
Walk of Truth sends a letter to the minister of justice in Germany to demand the entire catalogue of confiscated artifacts from the Munich operation be published so that other nations may reclaim their artifacts, as Cyprus did. Up until this day, no list was ever made public.
Lans
At a roundtable debate organized by Walk of Truth at the Peace Palace on September 13, 2013 in The Hague titled, “Art Trafficking and Restitution: Lessons Learned from Cyprus and Afghanistan,” it is announced that after nineteen years of court battles, a lengthy civil trial, and my persistent lobbying of the Houses of Parliament to amend the existing law to comply with the Hague Protocol, the Dutch government has agreed to return the four icons from the Lans case to the Republic of Cyprus. The icons return home on September 18, 2013.3
When the Munich and Lans artifacts are returned to Cyprus, I am not invited by church or state to welcome them home. As I hear what I worked on for almost thirty years be presented as a victory of church and state, I smile. What is important is that the Cypriot people rejoice with me as these refugee artifacts are returned home. My mission is accomplished.
Thirty-Three
IT AIN’T OVER
In my favorite glass room that overlooks our garden, I sip my morning cup of freshly brewed Lady Grey tea and pick up my ringing phone.
“Tazulaah! Listen!” It’s the voice of Van Rijn yelling above the sound of wind and the crashing waves.
“I’m in Zanzibar, my father’s favorite place. It’s beautiful here!” I hear waves crashing in the near distance. “I’m all dressed up in my tuxedo, woman. Can you guess what I am doing?” says Van Rijn.
“I can’t imagine,” I say.
“I came to bury his memory.” Van Rijn drops his father’s answering machine in a hole he dug in the sand. Looking at the Indian Ocean he says, “Tazulaah. Can you hear that, Tasoula? I’m free of him now. He no longer has a hold on me. You should be free, too. You should bury Cyprus. I can make that happen, Tazulaah. I have a lead to your Andreas. It’s time we put an end to Munich. Are you there?”
EPILOGUE
Ironically, the end of my forty-year odyssey leads me back to the Mediterranean waters of Cyprus where it all began. On July 9, 2013, a small, chartered bus pulls into Agios Dometios, the main border crossing from Nicosia into northern Cyprus, a painful reminder that I am a refugee within my own country. Once we are issued temporary visas, we drive into the Turkish-occupied area of Cyprus, and head toward Famagusta. My father, cousin Savakis, and a small group of friends accompany me. My father spots the first tears on my face.
“You can do this, Tasoula,” he says and holds my hand as he did when I was a small child.
At this moment everything inside me is aching for what was. The closer I come to facing the ghosts of my past, the more I tremble.
As the bus travels farther down the highway, I am stunned by the changed landscape. The road signs and the village names have all been changed from Greek to Turkish; the Saint Barnabas Monastery, where my cousin Vasilios lived as a young monk, is under Turkish control and has been turned into a museum. We, the faithful, are now required to pay in order to enter and pray, something I could never agree to. The last time I saw the monastery and the ancient city of Salamis was April 1974, when my family and I attended Holy Thursday service and made a picnic amid the ruins of Salamis on our way to celebrate Easter in Mandres.
When the borders first opened in 2003, my parents, my siblings, and their families first made the pilgrimage. I traveled to Cyprus to help prepare them for the journey, but I could not summon the courage to accompany them. I make this journey today because I am ready to transform the anger I feel within. Bringing the icons back to Cyprus did not heal the pain I felt about my inability to return home as I thought it might. I still find myself overwhelmed with a need to rid myself of this haunting burden.
It is important for me to smell the air of Famagusta, to touch the sand I played in with my siblings as a child, and to walk barefoot in the waters that embrace my city. Perhaps I will discover, after being abroad since 1976, just how much of that girl from Famagusta is still left in me.
The bus turns off the two-lane highway onto a smaller road and into a parking lot. Hand in hand, my father and I walk by buildings that were destroyed in the invasion. I look up at the bombed-out hotels and apartment buildings, stunned to see that they have been frozen in time since 1974.
The sand is blistering hot as we continue to the beach and walk past European tourists sunning themselves, completely oblivious to the history and suffering that took place in the very location they chose to vacation. This land is sacred to us. Our people died defending our country, and we are the silent witnesses to the atrocities that took place on this soil.
We continue on for about two tenths of a mile, until we reach the farthest tip of this stretch of beach. As I turn to my right, just across the bay, I see Varosha, the area of Famagusta where I was born. Once my childhood home, it is now a ghost city.
I let go of my father’s hand and enter the sea fully clothed, captivated by t
he view of my birthplace in the distance. This is the photograph that you see on the cover of the book. Every emotion I have overwhelms my heart as my eyes rest on the ghost city. Just a short swim away and I can become that young girl from Famagusta again. I am sad, I am angry, I am horrified—I am in mourning.
I don’t hear the cries of my father or my friends who urge me to return to shore. Their voices are muted by the sounds of the waves brushing up against the shoreline and by the voices of my youth. Varosha calls to me from a distance, so I continue wading until the sea reaches my waistline. The quickened beating of my own heart senses the Turkish soldiers standing on a platform to my right with their guns pointed at my head, shouting for me to return. I am fearless. I have waited forty years for this moment, and their guns do not scare me.
I look across the water and I want to shout to the world, “I am a girl from Famagusta. I am from this ghost city, but I am no ghost. I exist and I want to be heard.” Which law or international treaty gives these soldiers the right to kill me for wanting to go home? If we are silent when the law is abused, we have lost our moral compass.
Varosha stands as an outdoor museum to remind us of the impact of war. This apocalyptic remnant of the invasion is a warning to the rest of the world. It is a symbol of wasteful destruction and the social impact of cultural cleansing. Facing my painful memories, I realize that I have been living in the same purgatory as my parents. I, too, have been waiting year after year for politicians to come up with a solution to the Cyprus issue. There will be no resolution until we, the people, make it so.
I am finally able to let go of my anger and resentment as I realize that everything I have gone through to this moment now bids me to call upon every Cypriot—Greek and Turkish—wherever they are, to peacefully walk home with me. I also call upon every good citizen around the world who rejects violence and injustice to join me in this peaceful march. To the 65 million refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people that exist in the world today, who are adrift, struggling, and fearful, I am one with you.
My parents are at the end of their lives. With each passing day my fear of being unable to bury them next to their ancestors consumes me. My parents deserve to have in death what the politicians could not give them in life, something that is our God given right . . . the freedom to go home.
One person can change the world; this we know. Be that person and walk with me.
If you would like to find out more about my work and become a culture crimewatcher go to www.walkoftruth.org and please visit www.tasoulahadjitofi.com.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Asinou Church in the Troodos mountains, filled with its sacred art. Image © David Hands.
The Asinou Church in the Troodos mountains, filled with its sacred art. Image © David Hands.
A Cypriot church in the occupied area, stripped of all its art and icons. Image © David Hands.
A view of the ancient city of Salamis. Image © Kathy Barrett.
Iconostasis at the Antiphonitis Church in occupied Cyprus.
A small sampling of what was found in Aydin Dikmen’s apartment during the Munich Sting.
Part of a fresco ripped from a church wall and found during the Munich Sting.
Tasoula surveys the findings in Munich with Archbishop Chrysostomos I and Rob Polak.
Van Rijn, Peter Kitschler, and Tasoula hold an artifact recovered during the Munich Sting.
Tasoula’s parents begin to pray upon seeing a fresco of Kankaria’s “Saint Thadeos” upon its recovery in Munich.
Tasoula’s parents begin to pray upon seeing a fresco of Kankaria’s “Saint Thadeos” upon its recovery in Munich.
Stolen royal doors that were sold to Kanazawa College of Art in Japan.
Tasoula and Bishop Vasilios returning the Archangel Michael to Cyprus.
Tasoula and the archbishop look at a fresco returned voluntarily by a Greek collector.
Demos Christou, Tasoula, Archbishop Chrysostomos I, Rob Polak, and Athanasios Papageorgiou.
The Order of Saint Barnabas medal ceremony.
Archbishop Chrysostomos I and Tasoula’s daughter, Sophia.
Icons looted from the Antiphonitis Church after being restored and subsequently sold to the Lanses.
One of the four apostles of Antiphonitis after it was ripped from an iconostasis, prior to its restoration and sale to the Lanses.
Rob Polak, Tasoula, and Thomas Kline at the Peace Palace Conference, The Hague.
Looking into the past at the “Ghost City” of Famagusta.
Desecrated grave of Tasoula’s grandmother in Mandres, an occupied area. Images © Kathy Barrett.
Surrounded by barbed wire—one of the few churches still standing in the occupied area. Image © Kathy Barrett.
Tasoula and her father prepare to face their past in the occupied area of Famagusta.
Tasoula, her father, and Savvas Kyriacou look out upon the area they once called home.
Michael Kyprianou and Tasoula in Cyprus. Image © Kathy Barrett.
Tasoula with her son, Andreas.
Tasoula and her husband, Michael—the “Golden Couple.”
Tasoula and Sophia.
Michael and Marina.
ENDNOTES
CHAPTER ONE: THE SET-UP
1Document 2.2.1.10 TH Archive—Pretrial Brief—2.2.1.11—New York Times article.
CHAPTER TWO: HERE WE GO AGAIN
1Document 2.1.1.3, 2.1.1.6, 2.1.1.7, 2.1.1.8, 2.1.1.9 and 2.1.1.10 TH Archive—Request for adviser.
2http://www.loc.gov/law/help/cultural-property-destruction/cyprus.php
3http://www.academia.edu/9306082/Christianity_in_Cyprus_in_the_Fourth_to_Seventh_Centuries_2014
4J. Dalibard, Cyprus: Status on the Conservation of Cultural Property 3 (UNESCO, Jan. 1976) (internal report) http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0002/0002117/021772eb.pdf.
5TH Archive. Jacque Dalibard Heritage Approach to Life—Macodrom Library/Archives & Research Collections—Carleton University.
6Document 2.2.16.15 TH Archive—Dated 10/08/97—Outline of Deal to Attorney General.
CHAPTER FOUR: DATE WITH A DEVIL
1http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25496729
2http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/endangered-site-famagusta-walled-city-cyprus-54478493/?no-ist
3Press Conference, Munich—The Hague—Speech Papageorgiou—TH Archive.
CHAPTER FIVE: REFUGEE
1www.nytimes.com/2001/05/11/world/nikos-sampson-66-cyprus-president-after-coup-dies.html
2Nasuh Uslu, The Cyprus Question as an Issue of Turkish Foreign Policy and Turkish-American Relations, 1959–2003. (Nova Publishers, 2003).
3Uslu, pp. 118–119.
CHAPTER SIX: THE DANCE
1TH Archive—2.1.1.11 Papageorgiou to UNESCO.
2Document 2.2.1.12 TH Archive—Fax from head of police, Mr. Karayias.
3Document 2.2.1.8 TH Archive—Kathimerini newspaper-Greek language.
4Document 2.2.4.39 TH Archive—New Yorker article, July 13, 1989.
5www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/switzerland-restores-image-over-art-trafficking/9005486
6Document 2.2.1.20 TH Archive—Time magazine, July 1989.
7Document 2.2.12.14 TH Archive—Texas Monthly, January 1997.
8Document 2.2.1.10 TH Archive—Pretrial brief—Kanakaria case.
9Document 2.2.1.36 TH Archive—T. Hadjitofi fax to Director General 11/1989 RZ.
CHAPTER SEVEN: A SIGN
1Document 2.2.1.3 TH Archive—Photograph of Archangel Michael icon given by Van Rijn.
2Document 2.2.1.27 TH Archive—Fax from Van Rijn.
3Document 2.2.1.36 TH Archive—Roozemond to TH.
4Document 2.2.1.32 TH Archive—Roozemond Letter. Document 2.2.1.36 TH Archive—TH to Kyprianou on Roozemond letter.
5Document 2.2.1.24 TH Archive—Notes about meeting with Van Rijn faxed to Michael Kyprianou.
6Document 2.2.1.25 TH Archive—Agreed order on the Kanakaria case rules in favor of Cyprus and the Church
being the legal owners of the sixth-century mosaics.
CHAPTER NINE: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
1Document 2.1.2.42 TH Archive De Wijenburgh Bankruptcy.
2Document 2.2.2.1 TH Archive—Weijenburgh—sighting of Royal Doors.
3Document 2.2.2.5 TH Archive—Tasoula’s fax to Kyprianou.
4Document 2.2.2.11 TH Archive—Roozemond’s letter to Papageorgiou.
5Document 2.2.2.34 TH Archive—Papageorgiou to Roozemond.
6Document 2.2.7.15 TH Archive—Note Papageorgiou.
CHAPTER TEN: BAPTISM BY FIRE
1Document 2.2.1.22 TH Archive—Agreed order on the case Autocephalous Greek-Orthodox Church of Cyprus v. Goldberg.
2Document 2.2.2.25 TH Archive—Tasoulas Fax to the MFA.
3Document 2.2.2.31 TH Archive—TH fax to Attorney General re: Thies.
4Document 2.2.2.32 TH Archive—TH fax to Kyprianou.
5Document 2.2.2.40 TH Archive—TH fax to Kyprianou and Director General.
6Document 2.2.2.43 TH Archive—Fax to Savvides and Iakovides.
7Document 2.2.1.38 TH Archive—NRC Article “Defensless Monasteries” (English translation). Document 2.2.2.20 TH Archive—Settlement agreement Roozemond and NRC (English translation). Document 2.2.2.23 TH Archive—Settlement agreement Roozemond and NRC (original agreement in Dutch).
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