ANKARA

Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy on Tuesday said the bronze emperor statue smuggled from the ancient city of Boubon in Burdur, along with the marble head of Demosthenes and terracotta tablets from Duver in Kayseri, is being repatriated from the US after the completion of all required procedures.

“Boubon's lost emperor is returning to our country. Through international cooperation and a determined legal pursuit, we secured the return of the bronze emperor statue smuggled from Boubon Ancient City in Burdur,” Ersoy said on Turkish social media platform NSosyal.

“This process is one of the best examples of the effective struggle and international cooperation we are carrying out worldwide in pursuit of our cultural heritage,” he said.

Ersoy said a US collector who had illegally purchased the statue would have faced arrest by a US court had he refused to return it, adding that the individual avoided jail by agreeing to hand over the artifact.

“Along with the emperor statue, the marble head of Demosthenes and the terracotta tablets from Duver will also be returned. In two separate ceremonies attended by our Deputy Minister Gokhan Yazgi, 28 invaluable artifacts, including those previously repatriated through agreements, are returning to their rightful homeland,” he said.

Ersoy said 9,133 cultural assets have been repatriated to Anatolia over the past seven years and reiterated that Türkiye remains committed to protecting its cultural heritage and tracking artifacts worldwide.

He thanked the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the US Department of Homeland Security and Türkiye’s Anti-Smuggling Department of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Museums.

- Detention order for collector plays critical role for repatriation

According to the ministry, the return of the bronze emperor statue was secured through an investigation led by US prosecutors and security units. A detention order issued for collector Aaron Mendelsohn played a critical role in the artifact’s recovery.

The officials said it worked with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the US Department of Homeland Security throughout the process and completed all necessary transfer procedures.

The repatriation of a marble column capital depicting the Archangel Michael from the Metropolitan Museum of Art was also finalized. Provenance research showed the piece had been illicitly removed from the Meryem Ana Peribleptos Monastery in Samatya, Istanbul.