Bulgaria Returns to Turkey Valuable Artifacts

In the presence of Deputy Minister of Culture Amelia Gesheva, Turkish Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ougul Oskan Yavuz will be handed over artifacts of archeological origin held by the Bulgarian Customs Authorities at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint in October 2016 for illegal imports from Turkish citizen, the Ministry of Culture announced.

The event will take place tomorrow at 4:30 pm in the Conference Hall of the National Archaeological Institute with a museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The moving cultural values ​​are 63 - 56 coins / gold, silver and bronze antique, Roman and Byzantine coins /, six bronze antique applications and one bronze fiber.

For their return, Turkey has sent a formal request to the Ministry of Culture with an applied expertise with which Turkish specialists provide evidence of the origin of cultural assets from the territory of the Republic of Turkey. Evidence of illegal exports as well as information on the status of archaeological cultural values ​​as state property under Turkish law are also presented.

The procedure for the return of illegally exported cultural objects is based on the UNESCO Convention on Measures aimed at the Prohibition and Prevention of the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of the Right of Ownership of Cultural Property (Paris, 1970) and the Agreement on Prohibition and prevention of illegal import, export, transit and transfer of ownership of cultural property concluded between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Turkey in 2012