Repatriation

Turkish authorities have orchestrated the return of 12,135 smuggled historical artifacts over the past 22 years, with the country gearing up to welcome back more than 8,600 cultural treasures in the upcoming period.

Demand for the immediate signing of a Special Repatriation Agreement

Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov revealed that Bulgaria has exceeded its acceptance quota under the Dublin Agreement, returning more migrants to their countries of origin than it has received since the beginning of the year.

New York's American Museum of Natural History closed two halls featuring Native American objects starting on Jan. 27 acknowledging the exhibits are "severely outdated" and contain culturally sensitive items.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni underscored that the government does not consider the exchange, loan or recognition of the British Museum's possession of the Parthenon Sculptures, in answering a question from an opposition MP in parliament on Monday. 

The French Department of the Rhone returned a marble fragment from the Erechtheion temple on the Acropolis to Greece's possession in Lyon on Thursday. 

While efforts to trace and identify cultural artifacts smuggled abroad through illegal excavations and illegal means continue, a total of 7,701 cultural assets have been returned to the country since 2018, in which 2,956 of them returned in 2023.

In the latest repatriation of items of Greek cultural heritage, the United States has returned 29 looted antiquities.

They were delivered to Greece by Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, in a special ceremony at the Greek Consulate General in New York.

Fifteen ancient objects dating from the prehistoric to the Roman period are being repatriated to Greece from Switzerland by decision of a Geneva court in July last year following proceedings against an antiquities dealer. 

The number of irregular migrants deported from Türkiye in 2022 has soared to nearly 70,000 and increased by 142 percent compared to the same period of 2021, Directorate General of Migration Management has announced.