Turkey seizes seeds from the British Institute at Ankara reflecting growing tensions in field of archaeology
Removal of ancient and modern specimens is latest run-in between President Erdogan’s government and foreign missions.
Turkish authorities removed important research collections of ancient and modern seeds from the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) in September.
The institute’s chairman, Stephen Mitchell, explained the
The Art Newspaper
November 2, 2020
© Anadolu Agency via Getty Image; Photo by Halil Sagirkaya
situation to members in a letter seen by the news website Al-Monitor, in which he writes that 108 boxes of archaeobotanical specimens and four cupboards containing the modern seed reference collections were taken. Lutgarde Vandeput, the director of BIAA, says the institute is “in contact with the relevant government authorities”.
According to the Al-Monitor report, Turkish officials say the collections will become part of a government seed bank associated with the Ancestral Seed Project (Ata Tohum), launched by Emine Erdogan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in September 2019. Linking agriculture with national independence, the project collects seeds for storage and genetic study to ensure the continued survival of local crop varieties. Its aim is to make Turkey a world leader in seed production.
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