Gökhan Yazgı

United States authorities have returned $8 million of stolen antiquities, some of which were plundered as far back as the 1960s to Türkiye, a prosecutor said on Dec. 5.

Among the 41 pieces returned were two Heads of the Roman emperor Caracalla and the Bust of a Lady which were trafficked from Bubon, a Roman-era site in southwest Türkiye which was extensively looted in the 1960s.

Preparations are underway as Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry is preparing to establish a coordination center, where historical heritage preservation activities will be carried out. The ministry asked universities to send any information, document, research, thesis, picture, etc. about the quake-hit city of Hatay in an attempt to reconstruct the life and cultural texture there again.

The Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry has returned Egypt's stolen artifacts to the country.

The artifacts, such as the Kaaba key and an embroidered bag, which were found in a cargo package sent from Egypt last year, were returned by Gökhan Yazgı, the head of the Directorate General of Cultural Assets and Museums of the ministry.

Turkey can help Bangladesh with sharing ideas for building a panoramic museum illustrating the 1971 war of liberation, said a top Bangladeshi official.