The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey is actively working to preserve the centuries-old cultural heritage of Anatolia and is working to repatriate cultural assets smuggled abroad. To date, a total of 26,684 artifacts have been returned to Turkey.
Over 300 artifacts of Anatolian origin, including the statue of Marcus Aurelius repatriated from the United States, are on display at the National Library of the Presidential Complex.
Since the 1980s, Turkey has attached great importance to the repatriation of cultural assets smuggled abroad. From 2002 to 2018, 13,294 artifacts have been returned, and since 2018, 8,979 have been returned. Among them are the votive statue of “Cybele“, which was returned from the USA to our southern neighbor, numerous Anatolian coins, seals and archaeological artifacts, an inscription on the “Şile Bozgoca” mosque, a stele from the Roman period from Zeugma, a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius illegally exported from Burdur.
