Love may have been the impetus for me to relocate to the Netherlands, but it was destiny that led me, as a refugee from Cyprus, to settle in The Hague, the International City of Peace and Justice. I found my voice, once silenced by the consequences of war, as Honorary Consul to Cyprus in the Netherlands and as a representative of the Church of Cyprus, repatriating looted sacred artifacts.
War took my identity as a Greek Cypriot child and forced my family and me to flee for our lives during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. We lost our home, security, and material possessions that took a lifetime to accumulate. All that remained after everything was stripped away were the remnants of our faith. But the Turkish army took those, too, destroying and looting our churches, desecrating our graveyards, and taking action to erase all traces of our culture’s existence.
An opportunity to see those responsible for the cultural cleansing of Cyprus brought to justice took me on a forty-year odyssey in search of stolen sacred artifacts, which led me around the world and often placed me at the brink of ruin. As I am drawn deeper into the shadowy underworld of art traffickers, I learn that dealers of God are everywhere.
Gaining the cooperation of a Dutch art dealer, I successfully orchestrate a sting operation (the Munich case) in conjunction with the Cypriot and Bavarian police, leading to the arrest of Aydin Dikmen, the Turkish art dealer linked to the sacred artifacts looted from the occupied north of Cyprus, and the international trade. More than five thousand artifacts stolen from Cyprus and around the world were discovered.
The systematic destruction and looting of cultural heritage in areas of conflict threatens our religious freedoms and eliminates precious clues left behind by past civilizations. Our collective human achievement is now more than ever under direct attack as extremist groups value the looting of artifacts and antiquities as sources of revenue to fund their terrorist organizations.
My story speaks to the plight of every refugee in search of their lost identity and warns society about the dangers of leaving our religious freedoms and cultural heritage unprotected.
Culture is key to promoting understanding between different cultures and religions and connecting societies. Our heritage is an archive of the values and traditions we establish over time; it connects us to our past while building a bridge to our future. It is our most valuable inheritance, and my life’s work is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of protecting it.