Mr. Neil MacGregor and 2 others
2 RESPONSES
This petition was delivered to:
The British Museum
Mr. Neil MacGregor
See response
The British Museum
Mr. Jonathan N. Tubb, FSA Keeper Middle East
The British Museum
Department of the Middle East

The British Museum: Stop the Misrepresentation of Armenian Heritage as "Ancient Turkey"

The British Museum is misinforming visitors about the artefacts displayed in Raymond and Beverly Sackler Gallery No. 54, claiming they originated from “Ancient Turkey”. Our complaint is with regard to the artefacts of the Armenian cultural heritage, and in particular from the period of the Kingdom of Urartu, which are of great cultural value to Armenians and their history. The museum prescribes the artefacts dating back to the 9th to 6th century BC to “Ancient Turkey”, while copper and bronze age to “Pre-Historic Turkey”. Even the burnished wine jugs excavated from Karmir Blur, present day Republic of Armenia, are displayed in this gallery under the title “Ancient Turkey”. Since Turkey as a country, or its people - for that matter, did not exist prior to the 15th century AD, when writing or speaking about ancient times, the terminology “Ancient Turkey” is incorrect and irrelevant.
The Middle East keeper of the British Museum, Mr Jonathan Tubb, accepts the nonsensical character of the term, but justifies its use by pointing out that their aim is to make the Museum's signage as simple and accessible as possible and avoid terms that would not be immediately apparent to non-English speakers; as many of our visitors come here from abroad.” He then adds, “When borders or country titles change we will change accordingly." First of all, this explanation is groundless and not objective, since Room 55 is entitled Mesopotamia and Room 57-59 - Ancient Levant. If the statement were true then the above mentioned rooms should have been called Ancient Iraq and Ancient Syria respectively. Secondly, such a statement is a direct offense to both the visitors, who are perceived as ignorant, as well as to the bearers of cultural heritage that is on display at the museum. As an educational institution the role of the British Museum is to educate their visitors about the true origin of art and culture and their creators. By falsifying the history and misleading the visitors, the British Museum is losing credibility as an institution that conserves exhibits of historical importance. This is an unacceptable distortion and revisionism of history. Therefore, we demand that the truth and justice be restored!

“It is a coinage that will please Turkish individuals and organisations of extremist or ultranationalist sympathies, who periodically launch murder raids on non-Turkish individuals and communities.”
Christopher J. Walker
Author, Armenia: the survival of a nationVisions of Ararat: Writings about ArmeniaIslam and the West

"Why is truth important? Few things could be more damaging to cultural memory and  our understanding of historical change than the policy of describing all places and regions in terms of their present political constitution: "When borders or country titles change we will change accordingly." Does the BM really say that Roman London was located in England? What matters is the political and cultural constitution of place and region at the time whence the displayed artefacts are derived. It is precisely when borders and country's titles change that history is needed to bear witness to how things were: to show us at least the rudiments of the past. Anachronism is the very ignorance of history. Yet the BM seems to be making a principle of anachronism."
Charles Lock 
Professor of English Literature

University of Copenhagen, Department of English, German and Roman Studies

LETTER TO
The British Museum Mr. Neil MacGregor
The British Museum Mr. Jonathan N. Tubb, FSA Keeper Middle East
The British Museum Department of the Middle East
Stop the Misrepresentation of Armenian Heritage as "Ancient Turkey" 
RECENT UPDATES

19 Jul 2013
Gagik Avagyan: The Museum did change the name and this is how it looks like now! There was never an"Ancient Turkey" at all, Turkey was established in 1920-23, Ottoman Empire was established in 15-th Century. I'm not completely happy about the outcome, but it's a VICTORY.
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PETITION UPDATE
Genocide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been... 
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25 Feb 2013 — http://www.armweeklynews.am/awn/e12/en_1228.htm
I'm Pleased to Announce, that our petition is getting Larger public attention and now is going viral!Read more
Petition by Gagik Avagyan : Stop misrepresentation of Armenian Heritage as "Ancient Turkey"
Petition by Gagik Avagyan : Stop misrepresentation of Armenian Heritage as "Ancient Turkey"
Petition by Gagik Avagyan : Stop misrepresentation of Armenian Heritage as "Ancient Turkey" This petition will be delivered to The British Museum Petitioning Neil MacGregor and Jonathan N. Tubb The... 
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Petition started on 19 Feb 2013