Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who came to GAZİANTEP, attended the delivery ceremony of the 13th panel of the Gypsy Girl Mosaic, which was smuggled from Türkiye. Minister Ersoy said, "Today, we are happy to bring the 13th panel of the same composition, dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, to our Zeugma Mosaic Museum."
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who came to Gaziantep to make a series of visits, attended the delivery ceremony of the 13th panel of the Gypsy Girl Mosaic, one of the symbols of Gaziantep and Türkiye, which was separated from the main composition and smuggled abroad years ago. In addition to Minister Ersoy, Gaziantep Governor Kemal Çeber, Metropolitan Mayor Fatma Şahin, members of parliament, mayors and NGO representatives attended the ceremony held at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum.
Minister Ersoy, who made a statement here, said, "Zeugma is an important Roman city that brought the East and the West together on the banks of the Euphrates, where trade, art and culture intertwined. As you know, in the center of the large mosaic decorating the floor of a building in this ancient city, there is a Maenad depiction associated with the cult of Dionysus. This figure, publicly known as the 'Gypsy Girl', is today one of the most well-known cultural symbols of not only Gaziantep but also Türkiye to the world." Unfortunately, many panels belonging to this composition were removed from our country illegally as a result of illegal excavations carried out in the 1960s. As a result of the scientific, legal and diplomatic activities we carried out, we ensured the return of 12 panels belonging to the same floor mosaic located at Bowling Griin State University in the United States and introduced them to our visitors at our Zeugma Mosaic Museum in 2018. With the valuable contributions of our municipality, we had our craftsmen from Gaziantep prepare replicas of the stones of the Euphrates. We finalized these replicas with the activities of our Gaziantep Restoration and Conservation Regional Laboratory and presented them to Bowling Griin State University in 2022. Because we believe that the will to build bridges through cultural heritage, share information and act with the awareness of common responsibility should always be appreciated and rewarded, on the occasion of Zeugma. It is extremely significant. Today, we are happy to bring the 13th panel of the same composition, dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, to our Zeugma Mosaic Museum. The research conducted by Dr. Camila Felag from Grenobil Alp University and the scientific evaluations of Zeugma Excavation Head Prof. Dr. Kutalmış Görkay revealed that the panel was put on sale. We determined that it had been subject to a dispute and changed hands. Thereupon, we requested information regarding the fate of the work by the United States authorities. However, at that stage, we were informed that the buyer information was not available. During the international auction follow-up activities, it was determined that the panel was put up for sale again. Thereupon, we renewed our return attempt without delay, upon the successful completion of the process carried out by the United States Homeland Security Investigations Unit. "We provided it," he said.
'MANY WORKS HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR HOMELAND IN RECENT YEARS'
Minister Ersoy stated that many works of art have returned to their homeland in recent years, thanks to the cooperation with the USA in the field of protection of cultural assets, and said, "This process has once again shown that the fight against smuggling of cultural assets must be carried out in coordination with scientific research, legal mechanisms and international cooperation. On this occasion, I would like to particularly emphasize that the cooperation we have carried out with the United States in the field of protection of cultural assets has led to the return of many of our works to their homeland in recent years. In the field of combating smuggling of cultural assets, we will cooperate with the United States in 2021." The Memorandum of Understanding we signed is an extremely important instrument in terms of preventing the legal entry of cultural assets illegally removed from Türkiye to the United States. I would like to share with the public once again that the memorandum in question, which is implemented in five-year periods, has been extended for a new five-year period this year. This decision is a concrete indicator that the cooperation between the two countries continues and will continue to strengthen on the basis of mutual trust, continuity and determination. One of the most concrete examples of this strong cooperation is the New York Manhattan Region. "These are joint activities that have been carried out uninterruptedly between the Prosecutor's Office and the United States Homeland Security Investigations Unit since 2021. This joint effort has played a decisive role in the return of many artifacts illegally removed from the Ancient City of Burdur Boubon to their homeland. Many cultural assets, from the statues of Roman Emperors Lucius Verus and Septimius Severus to the statue of Marcus Aurelius, which we have returned after a 65-year struggle, have regained their lands as a result of these activities." he said.
'AS THE MISSING PARTS ARRIVE, THE GAPS IN THE HISTORY PAGES ARE FILLED'
Minister Ersoy said, "The return journey of our cultural assets is, of course, not limited to a single country. At this point, I would also like to remind you of the return of a work of Zeugma origin, the funerary stele, publicly known as the Satornila stele. This stele, which was kidnapped from the Ancient City of Zeugma and has a relief of a woman on it and the inscription 'The wife who loves her husband, Satornila, farewell' in Ancient Greek, dated to the 2nd century AD, was brought back to Italy. As a result of the coordinated activities carried out with the authorities and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we received it at our Rome Embassy in 2023 and brought it to our Zeugma Mosaic Museum. This work, which carries a sense of loyalty from approximately 1800 years ago, meets our visitors in our museum as an important scientific resource that sheds light on the life stories of the people and communities who lived in Zeugma. It is a beautiful sign that every work belonging to these lands will definitely return to its place. Every cultural asset has its own story, a context to which it belongs and a whole that it completes. The mosaic panel we returned today is not just the return of a single work, but the restoration of a missing piece of a large composition. This panel, which is added to the collection of our Gaziantep Zeugma Mosaic Museum, one of the largest mosaic museums in the world, allows the Zeugma mosaics to be examined in a more holistic way. "As the missing pieces return to their place, we are not just completing a mosaic, we are repairing a damaged memory, filling in the gaps in the pages of history, and bringing together a cultural value with all the values it belongs to. When we look at it from the perspective of these facts, it will be clearly seen that behind each restoration is our will to protect our history, memory and cultural sovereignty," he said.
'WE PROVIDED THE RETURN OF 13 THOUSAND 454 CULTURAL ESTATES'
Minister Ersoy stated that they have ensured the return of 13 thousand 454 cultural assets to Türkiye since 2002 and that they have carried out 9 thousand 139 of these returns in the last 8 years. Ersoy concluded his words as follows:
"As the Ministry, we work with great care and determination to detect, track and return our cultural assets that are taken abroad illegally to the lands they belong to. We carry out our fight in this field in strong cooperation with our relevant institutions, law enforcement units, judicial authorities, scientists and international stakeholders. Thanks to this strong coordination and multifaceted approach between our institutions, Turkey has become one of the exemplary countries in the world in the fight against cultural property smuggling. Thanks to this cooperation and will demonstrated at the table and in the field, Since 2002, we have returned 13 thousand 454 cultural assets to our country. We have returned 9 thousand 139 of these in the last 8 years. I find it especially necessary to underline this point: Our main goal in this fight is to bring to our country a preventive and holistic fight against cultural asset smuggling, both in terms of social awareness and institutional cooperation and implementation, and to make this permanent and sustainable. "We are resolutely carrying out activities against smuggling; we are constantly improving measures for effective evaluation of notifications, early intervention in incidents, and on-site protection of our cultural heritage. We are also strengthening the society's awareness of protecting cultural heritage by disseminating education and awareness activities. We will continue our activities with the same determination, the same belief, and the same determination until all cultural assets illegally removed from these lands are returned to the lands they belong to."