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Moral Considerations In The Art-Restitution Lawsuit Between The Arme

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  • Moral Considerations In The Art-Restitution Lawsuit Between The Arme

    MORAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ART-RESTITUTION LAWSUIT BETWEEN THE ARMENIAN CHURCH AND THE GETTY MUSEUM
    By Michael Toumayan

    http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/11/29/moral-considerations/
    Tue, Nov 29 2011

    On Nov. 4, a Los Angeles Times article, written by Mike Boehm, reported
    that in an effort to get back the Canon Tables of the 13th-century
    Zeyt'un Gospels from the Getty Museum, the Armenian Diaspora has
    inaudibly put its weight behind the Armenian Orthodox Church's quest
    to repatriate the allegedly stolen illuminated manuscripts back to
    Armenia, where the rest is housed at the Mesrop Mashtots Institute
    of Ancient Manuscripts.

    Getty Museum In 1915, as Armenians were subjected to a genocidal
    campaign by the Ottoman Empire, the intact codex changed hands for
    safekeeping. The eight pages that were torn from the larger codex
    during the Armenian Genocide ultimately resurfaced with an Armenian
    American immigrant family in Massachusetts, which sold them to the
    Getty in 1994.

    Church attorneys were initially asked by the Getty to come up with
    solutions, and no less than 16 were put forth, only to be rejected
    by the Getty. Clearly the content of a proposal for a solution is
    a critical component to any successful resolution of conflict, but
    equally necessary is the timing of the efforts. Resolution can only
    be achieved if the parties are sincere in negotiating.

    One wonders whether the Getty was ready and sincere when it asked
    church attorneys to come up with solutions. However, for the sake
    of being aware of our cognitive biases, we should also question
    whether both parties were engaging in positional bargaining, a
    negotiation strategy that involves holding on to a position, rather
    than interest-based bargaining in which parties collaborate to find a
    "win-win" solution to their dispute.

    Nevertheless, on Nov. 3, 2011 a Los Angeles Superior Court judge
    denied the museum's motion to dismiss the plaintiff's claim that the
    Canon Tables are "wrongfully in the possession, custody and control"
    of the J. Paul Getty Trust, in the Getty Museum. Instead, the judge
    ordered the parties to four months of mediation, scheduling a March 2
    resumption if the case isn't settled. Citing that it was "not clear"
    whether the case would fall within statute-of-limitations law, perhaps
    the judge's ruling may create the necessary conditions for the dispute
    to be ripe, and both will perceive that there is a suitable way out.

    With a murky history and 90 years later, one cannot rule out
    the Getty's possible legal possession and title to the disputed
    manuscripts. Simultaneously, the Getty's concern in the preservation of
    world artistic heritage should not confine itself to considering just
    the legal entitlement. In mediation, where context is pivotal, there
    is an ethical obligation that rests on the mu­seum taking into account
    the moral strength of the church's case based on the circum­stances
    during times of turmoil. Now is the time for the museum to exhibit
    consistency with its own core ethical values while also demonstrating
    sensitivity to the sacred values of the Armenian nation in its quest
    for restorative justice.

    For the mediation to be successful, both must enter into it willingly
    and away from a zero-sum mindset, through a cooperative approach. The
    potential benefits of mediation will outweigh the steep cost of
    litigation, but more importantly, the long-term outcome will be
    a healed and expanded relationship between the two. This may open
    the path for a joint restoration project where both can take part
    in repairing the lost gleam of the larger Zeyt'un Gospels and have
    them showcased with other extraordinary works of Armenian art from
    the vaults of the church.

    Michael Toumayan is an independent political commentator on the
    Caucasus and Middle East affairs. He holds a master's degree in
    conflict resolution and mediation from Tel Aviv University in Tel
    Aviv, Israel.

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