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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:-)
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6- I then made a very big mistake: Instead of obtaining a STUDENT VISA from the Turkish Embassy in Cairo, I obtained a normal TOURIST VISA instead! The man issuing the visas told me that this was a big mistake, but it was still curable...if I were to go to the General Police Headquarters in Istanbul and asked for a change in the purpose of my visa.
7- When I arrived in Istanbul, I found all procedures went without the police's approval in the Military (Askeri) Museum. The Military Museum needs no permission or help from the Turkish Police.
8- The problem came from Topkapi, where I was told I needed to send a petition to the Turkish Cultural Minister in Ankara. This problem was solved when the photographer of the Military Museum told me he knew a friend of the Turkish Cultural Minister. On his bus trip from Istanbul to Iskenderun, the bus paused at Ankara, so he sent my petition to the Minister of Culture with the mediation of the Minister's friend! The Minister sent his approval.
9- When this happened, the curators of the Imperial Treasures Section (Emine Bilirgen and Sheyla Murat) enabled me to study and investigate "Dhu'l-Faqar". That had to be on a Tuesday. The problem was that this particular sword was suspended from its grip with a semi-circular transparent plastic lock. This was to protect the sword from falling from the show-case in case an earthquake occurred. That lock was wider than the grip, but slightly narrower than the pommel. So, I was able to turn the blade to the other face, but it was not possible to take the sword out of the show case. Since the lighting system in the Imperial Treasury Room was somewhat dim, I had to use more light to completely see all that was on the sword. From the first time, I was able to take all the data that I needed; except the full reading of the inscription that I discovered; though I was able to identify the other inscription that I discovered, which is "Sahh".
10- Regarding investigating the other swords, the curator, Hilmi Aydin, said that the approval of the Minister of Culture wasn't enough. He said I needed further approval from the Istanbul Police.
11- When I went to get approval from the Istanbul Police, they refused to give me permission. Why??? Because my visa was a tourist one; not a student visa. I showed them the Minister of Culture's approval...but they said that that was not enough. I had to go back to Cairo and get the Student Visa from the Turkish Embassy there!!! OH NO!
...So, I had to return back to Cairo...stay two months there to await getting my STUDENT VISA!