Nearly 8,000 smuggled artifacts returned to Turkey

Birol İnceciköz, the Director General of Cultural Heritage and Museums, stated, “We are meticulously tracking our artifacts that have been illegally taken out of our country. Since 2018, we have brought back 7,824 artifacts.”

Inceciköz highlighted that a strong team was formed within the Ministry to identify and repatriate historical artifacts that had been smuggled abroad, and this team, working in coordination with the police and gendarmerie, had achieved successful results.

He noted that the Smuggling Department within the Ministry had been elevated to the level of a directorate in 2018, and elaborated as follows:

SINCE 2018 WE HAVE BROUGHT BACK 7,824 SMUGGLED ARTIFACTS

“We meticulously track our artifacts that have been illegally taken out of our country. We retrieve the artifacts that we have proven were smuggled from us through agreements with various countries. Since 2018, we have brought back 7,824 artifacts. This effort will always continue, but fundamentally, we are organizing educational seminars for citizens to prevent our artifacts from being taken out of the country. We explain that this is a very serious crime and that these artifacts need to be preserved locally. Our process of artifact repatriation and combating smuggling has become a role model worldwide. We are now the country that sets the rules here. We possess the technology, education, knowledge, and expertise to prove that an artifact was smuggled from our country from the soil particles on it. Our goal for the future is to retrieve all the artifacts that have been smuggled out to date.”