Macedonia: Smugglers and Legends Complicate Fight against Antiquities Theft (Part 1)
Posted on Wednesday, November 16 @ 05:00:00 EST by CDeliso
Macedonia Articles Since the following interview was conducted back in June, there have been various developments in the area of the topic under consideration. However, the reader will find here a detailed and fascinating discussion of the general topic as it applies to the case of Macedonia. Part 2 of the story follows tomorrow.
Despite being a tiny country, Macedonia has a very rich history of diverse cultures and civilizations, dating back millennia. In fact, the observatory at Kokino heralded by NASA as the fourth most important such site in the world.
As a fixed territory, Kokkino is staying put. But what about the millions of little things, the discovered and mostly undiscovered artifacts and other small treasures like ancient coins, jewelry, religious objects, weaponry and statues?
A Moveable Feast
Unfortunately for the country and for scholars everywhere, these represent something of a moveable feast for unscrupulous thieves and smugglers, who have over the past 15 years removed many important artifacts from Macedonian soil. There are over 4,000 known archaeological sites in Macedonia, of which approximately 130 are officially protected by law. However, most are not excavated, and doubtless there are many more waiting to be discovered.
Now the government is trying to do something about it. But as Ilce Bojcevski, Macedonias top cop for antiquities concedes, its a tough job. More often than not, the well-organized traffickers succeed, because of a lack of preventative resources- chiefly, funds available for his staff at the CHPO (Cultural Heritage Protection Office) in Skopje. Further, a long-awaited law that would enhance investigatory practices languishes in parliamentary procedure, and is not expected to take effect until January 1, 2006.
In an interview with Balkanalysis.com, Mr. Bojcevski explained the challenges facing counter-smuggling efforts, the methods used by smugglers and the areas of the country hardest hit over the past few years.
The Scrupulous Wests Secret Market
With the help of international police cooperation, his team focuses on the market abroad the high-paying collectors whose greed gives smugglers the motivation to perform the difficult and sometimes dangerous work of re-appropriating Macedonias cultural heritage.
There is a big auction market in countries like Switzerland, Austria and Germany, says Bojcevski. These are closed auctions- that is, open to a very few rich private collectors who know that they are bidding for stolen antiquities.
According to him, its very difficult for the police and INTERPOL to find these auctions, because they are organized in secret and varying locations. Every day were working with the Ministry of Interior and INTERPOL, says Bojcevski, but its difficult because the bad guys are very smart and experienced.
According to Bojcevski, most of the thefts take place in Macedonias most culturally rich area- the south. Every empire that has taken root here over the centuries - the ancient Macedonian, Roman, Byzantine, medieval Bulgar and Ottoman have had a strong presence in the south of the country. It was always a major east-west trading route; the Roman Via Egnatia passed through here.
A Trouble Spot: the Sunny Southeast
The latest attacks, as Bojcevski calls them, have taken place in the Dojran-Strumica areas of southeastern Macedonia. While he doesnt know for sure how many attempted thefts are going on at any given moment, he suspects the number right now to be around 40. Most cases involve local people with a criminal background, he says. They are approached by well-organized international gangs that know the real value of the goods on the closed auction market in the West.
Since the majority of villagers in these areas work in agriculture, they are familiar with vast stretches of land far from the roads. And, since it is their job to dig in the earth anyway, in the case of finding some ancient treasures the temptation to make some money from it is often too hard to resist.
Who, aside from the local collaborators, is responsible for this trafficking? Although a mafia exists, Bojcevski states, from what we have seen, its not really the big drug smugglers. But they do sometimes include some of our former freedom fighters that is, ethnic Albanian criminals who fought against the state in the 2001 war.
According to Bojcevski, the European antiquities smuggling mafia works with its smaller Macedonian counterpart, which in turn works with locals to unearth antiquities and then arrange transport. The foreign smugglers do their research beforehand in textbooks and through the input of collectors, in order to know what to search for and where they can find it.
International Collaborators and Local Offenders
Further, Bojcevski alleges, legitimate international antiquities societies are often corrupt and secretly working the illegal market. As a specific example he mentions a biannual fair for antiquities lovers, held in Belgrades Hotel Yugoslavia. While there are plenty of legally-procured antiquities on display, the collectors are also using this opportunity to tell the smugglers what places in the region to hit, and what treasures they want from them next.
Macedonian authorities are working together with their Serbian counterparts to fight this problem. The two countries have signed a convention for regulating the import and export of antiquities. But the battle is difficult, because the antiquities community is a tight one and very hard to infiltrate.
This same problem occurs at home, says Bojcevski. He believes that Skopjes few antiquities stores publicly offering everything from gold coins of Alexander the Great to World War II paraphernalia have extra collections available to specific customers.
While in the shops you see only legal things, he says, theres always a back room which is open to certain customers, where they keep the illegal artifacts.
A Legal Impasse Prevents Antiquities Protection
Given his suspicions, why dont the police perform sting operations on the dealers? According to Bojcevski, he cant, because the new antiquities law has not yet come into effect. The law is meant to enhance our investigative procedures, but unfortunately it has been stuck in Parliament since last July, he says. We were supposed to have it by January 1, 2005, but there were some holes- so they put it off for another year.
According to Bojcevski, there is huge support in the Parliament [for the law]. Only a few are against it - merely for political reasons.
The new law will also increase the funding for the CHPO. Currently, complains Bojcevski, we dont even have a Jeep. How can we go off-roading, to where the important sites are, in a two-door car?
While politicians and minister regularly promise more assistance, he claims, their support tends to be merely decorative.
Because of the lack of resources and blocked legislation, CHPO officers usually arrive on the scene too late after another treasure has been stolen. This is a real problem, sighs Bojcevski. We do what we can. At least with the known archaeological sites, we can hold regular inspections and make sure that things are being done properly. Macedonia: Smugglers and Legends Complicate Fight against Antiquities Theft (Part 2)
Posted on Thursday, November 17 @ 03:00:00 EST by CDeliso
Macedonia Articles The first part of this story appeared yesterday. As we said, since the following interview was conducted back in June, there have been various developments in the area of the topic under consideration. However, the reader will find here a detailed and fascinating discussion of the general topic as it applies to the case of Macedonia.
Archaeology: Benefits and Dangers
The archaeologists, however, view their work as vital to get to the treasures before the thieves can. But they too are strapped for cash, and have had to be creative in order to get results.
One Macedonian archaeologist privately discussed a program held during the late 1990s, in which retired American couples seeking to fulfill their own Indiana Jones fantasies would visit the country for two weeks and, under the direction of professionals, help excavate sites in south-central Macedonia. They didnt get to keep their finds, he says. The thrill of it was enough for them. And they pumped money into the local economy. But unfortunately the program was cancelled.
Yet such zeal is not always beneficial, argues Bojcevski. He affixes some of the blame on the well-meaning archaeologists themselves. Because these scholars are impatient to write their studies, they want to discover more things and faster. But in their rush they dont see that they end up losing in the end. They make our work harder.
In the other cases, where a theft has occurred, we can only try to document the theft and hope to trace the items with the help of the police and INTERPOL.
The problem with money is not only a general lack, but also a failure to allocate it realistically, he contends. The CHPO may be given 1,500 euros to monitor up to 30 known sites, with the result that we cant check up on any one of them properly- it would be much better to concentrate on fewer sites, but follow the discovery process from beginning to end.
A Rare Victory
These setbacks paint a depressing picture indeed. But the news is not always bad. Sometimes the good guys win, Bojcevski reminds. In recent months there have been two major smuggling busts, one involving a huge amount of ancient Macedonian jewelry from a burial tomb, another also involving treasures from a 7th century BC necropolis. In his office, Bojcevski showed photos and a summary of the police report on the latter bust, and told the story of how the criminals were stopped.
The items, mostly jewelry, were put on a bus in the northwestern city of Tetovo, bound for Leverkusen, he says. But luckily during a routine check on the Croatian-Slovenian border, the authorities discovered them and sent the whole collection back to us. We were very grateful for this. It was an example of successful international cooperation.
The items taken were very valuable, Bojcevski says. Macedonian Iron Age, 6th and 7th century BC treasures are currently very popular on the European market. Something you could sell here for 5,000 euros will be worth 30,000 euros in the West.
The Lure of Legend
But not all of the collectors are motivated by financial reward. Since the country is littered with countless antiquities, not a few Macedonian households boast one or two centerpiece items from the remote past. Aesthetic fondness and even patriotism are the most common motivations for such private collectors, who inevitably have a story behind every discovery.
For example, a local man in the southwestern village of Vevchani proudly shows off a second century AD Roman statue of a horse sitting in his living room. I stumbled on it by accident, he says. I enjoy reading about the ancient history of our region, and I was following the ancient road that re-connected with the Via Egnatia and there it was!
This thrill of the hunt motivates many. Because of its long and complex history, Macedonia abounds with tales and legends about not only great cultures- but also what they left behind.
The appeal of such stories seems to lie in their vagueness; percolating in the popular consciousness for generations, the legends are typically awash with the blood, plunder and magic of long-dead kings, armies and priests. But nobody can ever say exactly where the fortress stood, where the battle took place, where the temple was overtaken by vines. Such tales always seem to originate from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend
Legends of ancient treasure appeal to many Macedonians. Stole, a 28 year-old man from Skopje, enjoys wandering the mountains on weekends with a metal detector in search of buried treasure. Ive only found one iron horseshoe, he says. But thats okay- I just do it for the fun of it.
And the Curse of Discovery
However, other Macedonians are superstitious about such adventuring and strongly oppose it, believing that it can only bring on bad luck. The story recounted by a young woman from Skopje fits the mold exactly.
Many years, ago my uncles friends grandfather was adding on to his house south of Kratovo, and they discovered a bag of Turkish gold buried in the yard, she says. When he died, he left it to the friends father. But every time he touched it, he got sick. There are many stories like this. So many of us think its better not to look for these things.
Picturesque Kratovo, surrounded by the Osogovski Mountains and traversed by a winding river, was the local center of silver mining under the Ottomans. It remains one of Macedonias most unique towns, connected by 6 bridges, punctuated by watchtowers, and crisscrossed by a labyrinth of underground tunnels.
Because of its distinguished history, the Osogovski region has been explored by several foreign mining companies. Locals tell tales of wilderness areas secretly fenced off, of unknown helicopters hovering in the distance, of armed guards protecting isolated terrain. But all of these stories remain unverifiable. What many believe, however, is that the companies were not after silver or gold- but ancient antiquities.
Suspicions and Lamentation
The Macedonian government had such a suspicion about a decade ago, recalls Ilce Bojcevski. In the mountains between Kratovo and Probistip, an American mining company was given a license to operate. They said they were looking for gold, but we suspected they were really looking for antiquities. But we couldnt do anything because we couldnt prove this.
Some Macedonians have even claimed that NATO soldiers engaged in organized theft over the past few years. After they came as peacekeepers in 2001, says one former policeman who did not want to be named, they were found in certain areas digging in a very systematic way we believe they were looking for ancient treasures. But what can we do? NATO is very big and powerful, and we are very small and weak.
While Bojcevski cannot corroborate this claim, he does allege that the wealthy internationals the NATO peacekeepers, UN employees, OSCE and others have individually taken illegal antiquities out of the country by buying them from the back room collections of unscrupulous Skopje dealers. These people have a lot of money, and they dont particularly care about our national heritage, he says. They just want ancient souvenirs to take home.
In the end, the market value for Macedonian antiquities abroad, as well as the allure of treasure hunting for locals, makes a hard job for the countrys cash-strapped police. There are many things we miss, concedes Ilce Bojcevski. But we are doing our best. The job is very important for the country.
Macedonia is supposed to protect its cultural heritage- God knows we have so much of it. We cant say were great at other things, but in this we are one of the best in the world.
Pėrgjigju Duke Cituar
Krijoni Kontakt