President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, who was in Türkiye on an official visit, paid a visit to the exhibition, which features artefacts transported illegally to Hungary and then returned to Türkiye through bilateral cooperation and diplomatic initiatives, and were briefed by officials.
Returned artefacts
Hungarian security forces notified the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism that 101 objects, probably falling under the purview of Law No. 2863 on the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Property, were confiscated in a truck driven by a Turkish citizen during a police stop on October 29, 2016.
The artefacts preserved in Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts were inspected by experts from Van Museum using their images. "Yellow residue" was detected on several artefacts confiscated during the 2015 operation in the Patnos district of Ağrı, indicating that they belonged to the same group as those confiscated in Hungary.
It was discovered that the works of the Urartian period, most of which were made of bronze, belonged to Türkiye. The return of the artefacts, identified by the meticulous work of the experts from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was requested from Hungary via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A bull-headed cauldron, similar to the one on exhibit in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, as well as various weapons and carriage parts, and horse harnesses, are among the antiques returned to Türkiye from Hungary.
In addition to the Urartian artefacts, 14 gold coins belonging to the Roman period were returned, and the precise information regarding the period and origin of a small group of artefacts other than these will be validated after detailed technical examinations in Türkiye.
On February 25, 2021, 413 artefacts of Anatolian origin, including chariot parts, furniture parts, coins and marble figurines, were returned to Türkiye from Hungary.
