The 'missing firman': Ottoman roots of UK-Greece row over Parthenon sculptures

The diplomatic spat between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the ownership of ancient marble works has put a spotlight on a part of Ottoman history that has the potential to resolve this controversy.

Hours before the two premiers were to meet on Tuesday, Sunak cancelled a meeting in response to Mitsotakis’ insistence that the Parthenon Sculptures belong in Athens and not at the British Museum in London.

The 2,500-year-old carvings have been on display at the British Museum since the early 19th century when a British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Thomas Bruce, or Lord Elgin, ferried them to London from the Parthenon temple in Athens.

At the time, Greece was under the administration of the Ottoman Empire and Elgin claimed to have received permission from then-Sultan Selim III to remove the artefacts.

The British Museum says Elgin was granted a permit, known as a firman, when he transported roughly half of the sculptures to Britain.

For decades, this has been the official line of defence used by British officials to lay claim over the artefacts.

But a few years back, two Turkish researchers dug into the Ottoman state archives to look for any documentary evidence and found none.

“As [far] as we looked at the Ottoman archives, there is no firman allowing these marbles to be moved,” says Professor Zeynep Aygen, a conservation architect and architectural historian at Fatih Sultan Mehmet University in Istanbul.

Aygen’s ongoing research with historian Orhan Sakin on the subject promises to shed light on the legitimacy of the transfer of marbles to Britain.

At the heart of the controversy is what the British Museum claims is an Italian translation of the original firman — the official Ottoman permit. Museum authorities have been ambiguous on what happened to the original Ottoman permit.

Aygen says she didn’t find any such letter in the archives. “An Ottoman Firman has certain... signatures and format and can never be written in the Italian language,” Aygen tells TRT World.

Some of the most important parts of the marbles, which include exquisite carvings of Greek gods and legendary figures, were moved during the period of Ottoman Sultan Selim III.

Knowing Sultan Selim III's interest in heritage, Aygen says she never understood “this ‘firman’ issue,” and was subsequently invited to Acropolis Museum to start a joint research programme by a colleague there.

“There I saw for the first time the so-called ‘firman’ copy and could not believe my eyes. I immediately asked my colleague Orhan Sakin to look at it, so he shared my view that an Ottoman firman cannot look like that.”

A missing part of Greek heritage

Since the 1980s, Greece has repeatedly called for the return of the sculptures, which are a collection of different types of marble pieces from the temple of Parthenon, dedicated to the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Athena.

The sculptures are part of a frieze — a band of sculptures on a ceiling or wall — which was made by an ancient Greek sculptor and painter Pheidias. There are more than 30 sculptures and a piece of the original frieze in the possession of the British Museum.

The sculptures are culturally important to Greece and are regarded as one of the world's most historically significant monuments.

“Fragments of historic buildings have a meaning if they stay in their original place,” says Aygen.

“These marbles are part of the Parthenon Temple; the Temple's originality suffers without having these metopes which are one of the most important parts of a Greek temple.”

After removing the sculptures from its original home, Lord Elgin, who traced his lineage to the King of Scotland Robert the Bruce, sold them to the UK government in 1816. The marbles later came under the trusteeship of the British Museum.

“However, if he had another reason such as enriching his country's heritage collection, we need to do more research on this issue,” she adds.

The so-called Elgin Marbles have aroused passions on all sides for over a century. People have written books on the subject, investigated Lord Elgin’s intentions, while British and Greek diplomats have traded allegations of theft and betrayal.

Latest diplomatic spat

Mitsotakis was scheduled to meet Sunak on November 28, but the meeting was called off, leaving Mitsotakis “deeply disappointed by the abrupt cancellation.”

Mitsotakis was in London for a three-day working visit, and was hoping to discuss several topics including the war on Gaza, in Ukraine, the climate crisis, and the fate of the Parthenon Sculptures.

“I express my dismay that the British Prime Minister cancelled our scheduled meeting just hours before it was due to take place,” Mitsotakis said in a statement.

“Anyone who believes in the righteousness of their positions is never afraid of opposing arguments.”

However, the British government remains adamant about keeping the Parthenon Sculptures.

"Our position is clear — the Elgin Marbles [Parthenon Sculptures] are part of the permanent collection of the British Museum and belong here. It is reckless for any British politician to suggest that this is subject to negotiation,” the BBC quoted a senior member of Sunak’s Conservative Party.

But Parthenon Project, an organisation that advocates for the return of sculptures to Athens, says it’s time the British prime minister heeds to popular demand.

“It’s a shame the British Prime Minister feels he can’t discuss the subject of the Elgin Marbles with the Greek Prime Minister, especially given how much both countries stand to gain from a sensible resolution on this matter,” a Parthenon Project spokesperson tells TRT World.

“There is a way forward where both sides agree to disagree on the issue of ownership and strike a deal that benefits both sides, with the sculptures reunified in Athens.”