Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Gunay says that in last decade, over 4000 artifacts had been brought back to Turkey from world museums and collections.

Ankara / NationalTurk – ‘ We will see it soon that our artifacts will be brought back to Turkey from England, U.S. and some other countries’, stated Turkish Minister for Culture and Tourism.

Britain-based The Art Newspaper reports that Turkey is on a collision course with many of the world’s leading museums, as the country refuses exhibition loans because of ongoing antiquities claims.

Ertugrul Gunay stated that Turkey is rich in archeological sites and informed, ‘ We just started realising how goog Turkish archeology got recently. Europeans and other countries were more into archeological researches than us. Turkey is improving and working hard in order to have the highest quality museums.’

Uluburun shipwreck exhibition in Britain denied by Turkish Culture Ministry

Ertugrul Gunay also mentioned the Neolitic City of Catalhoyuk which was listed as a World Heritage site last week and stated that his ministry will be working hard for sending more town names to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Earlier, it was reported that Turkey was refusing to lend historical artifacts to supreme Britain and American museums until the issue of disputed antiquities had been resolved.

British Museum project on the Uluburun ship, the world’s oldest recovered wreck is among the exhibitions that have so far been hit. Dating from the 14th century BC, the ship wreck was found (along with its cosmopolitan cargo) in 1982, six miles off the south-west Turkish coast. Uluburun ship wreck was put on display 12 years ago at the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Turkish culture ministry was not available for immediate comment on the delicate issue.

Turkey historical heritage springs out from water and soil : Sarcophagus discovered 20 meters away from the shore !

Meanwhile last week the ancient city of site in Alanya district of Antalya province saw an interesting development that is proof of Turkey’s rich historical treasures.  A sarcophagus from the 2nd or 3rd century AD have been found in the waters near the ancient Roman city of  Justinianopolis. The  sarcophagus with medusa and eros figures have been taken from the waters and brought to Alanya city museum.

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