Salamis: the Ankara University excavations

The excavations of Ankara University at Salamis, in the area occupied by Turkey since the invasion of 1974, ran without the permission of the Republic of Cyprus¹. In 2011 the excavators took five marble statues out of the Roman baths; Summerer reports that they are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Iskele/Trikomo². Ahmet Coşkun Özgünel, Professor at the University of Ankara, directed the work, which Summerer dates from 1998 to 2013 and in which she calls him a student of Ekrem Akurgal^1,2. Ankara University sponsored it, with Eastern Mediterranean University as partner^1,2. Summerer reports that the two universities set up the research centre AKVAM, with a focus on Salamis, in 1997, citing Özgünel 2007; Hardy 2011 gives 1998².

A 1999 notice in the Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes, headed "Illegal Turkish excavations at Salamis" and transmitted by V. Karageorghis, says the excavations started the previous August. It places digging at the Agora near the temple of Zeus, where the French mission of the University of Lyon had excavated before 1974, and near the Campanopetra basilica, with architects at work near the Basilica of St. Epiphanios and between the Gymnasium and the Theatre. The team included Turkish architects and students and a young German archaeologist from the University of Tübingen, and the notice says the team occupied both dig-houses at Salamis, which held archaeological material, documents, plans, photographs and books of the earlier missions¹.

Summerer notes that the excavations were controversially discussed from legal and ethical perspectives². She lists an excavated colonnaded road, Roman baths, private buildings and a peristyle building tentatively interpreted as a "fish market", all known only from preliminary reports and short articles². She says the excavations were finalized in 2013, although Özgünel had announced a continuation with an extended programme in 2007². She argues that leaving the 1998 to 2013 excavations out of the Salamis of Cyprus conference volume, and disregarding the unearthed material, is unreasonable scientifically, and she expects final publication within the next few years².