Turks seek ban on tile sale

Turks seek ban on tile sale

Turkish authorities say tiles have been stolen from the New Mosque

Turkey's culture minister is trying to halt the sale of antique mosaic tiles at Christie's auction house later this month, saying they may have been stolen.

Erkan Mumcu said the 17th Century Ottoman tiles may have been taken from an Istanbul mosque, a claim the auction house denies.

Turkish authorities believe they were possibly taken from the Yeni Cami (New Mosque) in Istanbul.

Mr Mumcu said the Turkish foreign ministry had already started procedures to try to prevent the sale, which happens in London on 29 April.

"I believe we will prevent it," Mr Mumcu said. "We will most likely get these back."

The mosque first reported that tiles had been stolen in February 2002. Several people were arrested and some tiles were recovered.

Under Turkish law it is illegal to sell antiquities - which include items from the country's Roman, Christian, Byzantine and Ottoman times - but thefts and sales still occur.

But Christie's said the tiles are "definitely not the tiles" being sought by the Turkish authorities.

Private collection

A spokeswoman for the auction house said the tiles had been offered for sale last April, but did not sell.

She said they had been in a private collection for more than 20 years. They had been bought by the seller in the Netherlands in 1980.

The tiles, which are being sold as Lot 160 in the auction, are expected to reach between £1500 and £2000.

The Christie's website lists the tiles as being "very similar indeed to some of those in the Yeni Cami.

"The present tiles have the same colour scheme, the same border design and the same inner rope-pattern border as those in the mosque," the website said.

They are described as Iznik tiles, after the north-western Turkish province where they were made.