ANKARA, Jul 22 (NNN-TRT) – The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said yesterday that, 12,139 historical artefacts have been repatriated since 2002, as the country has intensified efforts to recover cultural artifacts.
Since 2018 alone, a total of 7,823 artefacts have been recovered, local newspaper, Daily Sabah, quoted the ministry as saying.
Many of the recovered artefacts were retrieved from Western countries, including Britain, Italy, and the United States.
Some artefacts were intercepted during commercial transactions. For instance, a bronze emperor statue, slated for auction in New York in 2011, was deemed illegal and subsequently returned to Türkiye.
More recently, a marble torso of a young woman, identified as a Turkish historical artefact was recovered from an auction in 2021, and repatriated to the Anadolu Civilisations Museum on Jan 26, this year.– NNN-TRT
