A long-missing panel dating to the second and third centuries A.D. has been reunited with Türkiye's famed Gypsy Girl Mosaic at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, the culture minister said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that the mosaic, one of Türkiye's best-known cultural symbols, was broken apart following illegal excavations in the 1960s, with many of its panels smuggled abroad.
He recalled that 12 panels of the mosaic were repatriated and reunited with the artwork at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum in 2018.
"Today, we are pleased to add the 13th panel, dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., to the museum's collection," Ersoy said.
He said that the research by Camila Felag of France's Grenoble Alpes University and scientific assessments by Zeugma excavation director Kutalmis Gorkay established that the panel belonged to the same composition.
After Turkish authorities determined that the piece had changed hands, they renewed efforts to recover it when it resurfaced at an international auction. It was ultimately returned to Türkiye following an investigation by the US Homeland Security Investigations unit.
"This process has once again demonstrated that combating the trafficking of cultural property requires the coordinated use of scientific research, legal mechanisms and international cooperation," Ersoy said.
He described the panel as an important addition to one of the world's largest mosaic museums.
"This panel ... enables a more comprehensive scientific study of the Zeugma mosaics and contributes to reassessing the composition within its original context," he said.
"As missing pieces return, we are not only completing a mosaic but also restoring a damaged memory, filling gaps in history and reuniting a cultural asset with the heritage to which it belongs."
Ersoy also noted that Türkiye and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in 2021 to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property, adding that the agreement has been extended for another five years.
He said that Türkiye has recovered 13,454 cultural artifacts since 2002, including 9,139 over the past eight years, and pledged to continue efforts until every illegally exported cultural object is returned to its homeland.
