ISTANBUL, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye has brought back more than 9,000 smuggled cultural treasures in the past eight years, marking a major acceleration in its campaign to reclaim antiquities, the country's Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced here Thursday.
Türkiye has repatriated 13,449 artifacts since 2002, with 9,134 of them recovered over the last eight years following more systematic efforts against illicit trafficking, Ersoy told a culture and arts institutions evaluation meeting.
Ersoy said the establishment of the ministry's Anti-Smuggling Department in 2020 marked a new era in the recovery of cultural property, adding that the department will continue pursuing artifacts lost as a result of illegal excavation and trafficking.
He highlighted the return of a rare Roman-era bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius last year as a landmark achievement in Türkiye's campaign against antiquities smuggling. The artifact was repatriated from the United States after it was believed to have been smuggled out of the ancient city of Boubon in southwestern Türkiye in the 1960s.
Ersoy also highlighted the government's "Heritage for the Future" initiative to strengthen the protection and study of archaeological heritage nationwide.
He said the initiative had expanded to include 255 excavation sites nationwide as of 2025, with more than 1,200 specialists and over 3,000 workers hired last year.
"More than 15,000 archaeological finds have also been introduced to the academic world," he added. ■
