The Original Dhu'l-Faqar

[AhmedH]

Originally Posted by ariel

Never knew Turks to be so teary-eyed and gullible.... Must have been hell of a love story to force them to circumvent every known museum protocol:-)

Now then, in order to make my field study, I needed to study the Arab swords now preserved in Topkapi and the Military Museums in Istanbul; along with the sword now preserved in al-Hussein Mosque in Cairo. In order to get permission for studying those swords in Istanbul, I had to do the following procedures:

1- Since I was a registered masters student in the Faculty of Archaeology - Cairo University, I was able to get certified requests from my University to the Turkish Embassy in Cairo; along with the Turkish Ministry of Culture and the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff.

2- In order to consolidate this request, I obtained from the Egyptian Military Intelligence the telephone and fax number of the Egyptian Military Attache in Ankara; along with his name, and a secret name that he knew that proves that this request came from the Military Intelligence. I then faxed him the request in both Arabic and English (which the Attache's Turkish staff translated to Turkish).

3- I also telephoned the Egyptian Cultural Attache in Ankara, and told him what I wanted. I then faxed him my request in Arabic and English; which was also translated to Turkish.

4- I then telephoned IRCICA, and spoke to Prof. Ihsanoglu for further advice.

5- Oh, I forgot! Before doing all that, I went to the Turkish Embassy in Cairo, and met the Turkish Cultural Attache, and it was he who advised me to do those procedures. He even gave me Prof. Ihsanoglu's telephone and fax numbers.