ANKARA/CANAKKALE (AA) - September 4, 2012 - Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunay said Tuesday that the 24 pieces of gold ornaments have been brought back to Turkey with the cooperation of Penn Museum in the United States.
In the scope of the project of returning historical artifacts which were taken out of Turkey via illegal ways, Gunay said that they have been receiving positive results and that between the years of 1993-2003, a total of 869 artifacts were brought back to Turkey and between 2003-2007, thousand pieces were returned and since September 2007 until today, 3 thousand 336 artifacts reached Turkey.
Gunay added that the number of returned artifacts will reach 4 thousand after bringing back of some of them from Bulgaria soon. In the past 5 years, there were artifacts returned from U.S., Britain, Austria, Germany, UAE, Switzerland, Croatia and Serbia.
Turkish minister also touched on UNESCO's being attentive over Turkey's efforts and said that they will arrange a symposium in Gaziantep in November in order to bring back the artifacts which were taken out of the country through illegal ways.
Gunay said that there are really important pieces which were brought back to Turkey and said, "These pieces have such importance. These are Troy rooted. City of Troy was destroyed nine times and but it was rebuilt. These artifacts are believed to have belonged to the second period of Troy. These pieces were discovered by a German archaeologist Schlieman."
Turkish Minister Gunay also stated that the project of the Troy Museum was completed and the implementation tender will be completed this year. He added that gold ornaments which will be presented at the Anatolian Civilizations Museum will be moved to the Troy Museum once its completed.
Gunay clarified that they are working on the refurbishment of 19 museums and working over the set up of 29 museum projects all over Turkey.
Vice chairman of the Troy digging, Associate Prof Dr Rustem Aslan said,"When the Troy Museum is completed, the presentation of these artifacts will be notable because they will be shown to public in Troy Museum."
