26 January 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA
Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry was able to bring 151 cultural treasures back to the country in 2009, officials have said. The ministry is continuing its efforts to have several other artifacts currently in Germany, Russia, the US, Italy, France, Serbia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ukraine and the UK returned, ministry officials said on Monday.
Talking to the Anatolia news agency about the steps taken as part of the process to have the artifacts returned, officials said the Turkish interior, foreign and justice ministries are working with international organizations, while Turkish officials regularly monitor national and foreign press, auction catalogs, Web pages and other publications to recover artifacts that were smuggled out of Turkey. In the case of failure to bring back the assets due to bilateral talks and agreements, Turkish embassies and consulates engage advocacy firms to start legal proceedings, officials said.Thanks to its success, the Culture and Tourism Ministry managed to bring a total of 151 artifacts back to Turkey from countries such as Croatia, the US, Germany and Austria in 2009. The returned artifacts included coins, jewelry, bronze surgical tools, a pendulum, an oil lamp and a Quran manuscript.
