In response to allegations regarding missing artifacts, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Ersoy has cited outdated recording methods as the main cause of Turkish museum inventory discrepancies, while detailing new digital tracking and security enhancements.
Responding in writing to questions from lawmakers in parliament, Ersoy explained that museums conduct yearly collection counts at year-end alongside ongoing efforts to track and research missing cultural artifacts.
Issues identified during the counts largely concern differences in records inherited from earlier practices, reassessments of groups containing fragments of larger objects and updates to inventory systems, according to the minister.
Ersoy said the ministry had launched a Security System Installation Project to improve security systems and strengthen protection infrastructure at museums and archaeological sites.
Over 1.15 million movable cultural assets held in museums have been entered into the Museum National Information System (MUES), Ersoy said. The ministry is continuing work to transfer museum collection records into digital form.
The ministry’s broader MUES program standardizes museum records, including objects’ names, classifications, dates and production and decorative techniques. The program’s inventory work includes detailed photography and updates to existing records, providing a common framework for documenting and managing the country’s cultural assets.
