More than 1 million historical artifacts, the majority of them coins, are prevented from being smuggled abroad each year in Türkiye, says Zeynep Boz, head of the Anti-Smuggling Department at the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
Boz, who came to Gaziantep as part of the “Turkish Cultural Heritage Strategic Cooperation Conference and Technical Workshop: Program for Combating the Illicit Trade of Cultural Property,” told state-run Anadolu Agency that Türkiye has carried out significant work in the fight against the smuggling of historical artifacts.
She noted that programs are being implemented to prevent the trafficking of cultural property both domestically and internationally, as well as through awareness-raising efforts, adding, “The return of artifacts from abroad represents the most symbolic aspect of these efforts and, in fact, conveys the strongest message to the international public.”
Boz recalled that since 2002, a total of 13,453 artifacts have been returned to Türkiye.
Emphasizing that inter-institutional cooperation increases success in the field, Boz said: “Thanks to this cooperation, a large number of artifacts are also being seized domestically. We can say that over 1 million items are captured each year, most of them coins. If these were not seized in Türkiye, they would be smuggled abroad, and we might or might not be able to secure their return. Therefore, it is very important to highlight these artifacts as well as these efforts.”
Boz stated that they have followed an important path in preventing smuggling through education and awareness efforts.
Stressing that public awareness must also be built in order to prevent trafficking, Boz said: “We need to instill in our people the importance of cultural assets. In order to achieve this, we continue to exist in this field through educational efforts carried out for all age groups. We see that items which were once considered a very minor crime years ago and perhaps not given much importance globally, and which were almost considered ‘clean’ once they left the country of origin and reached a market country, are no longer treated in this way. We observe that museums, major institutions, institutes and foreign organizations now particularly ask where an artifact comes from.”
