Iraq to repatriate 80 smuggled artefacts from Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region —  Iraq’s Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday that it will repatriate dozens of artefacts smuggled into Turkey as part of a signed agreement with Ankara. 

The artefacts were found by Turkish authorities in 2008, according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement. They have until now been held at a museum in Hatay, southwestern Turkey.

"The coming days will witness the return of these monuments and precious items to Iraqi territory," the ministry statement read.

"It is worth mentioning that the Foreign Ministry and all its diplomatic missions are exerting maximum efforts in coordination with partners and friends to recover all the smuggled antiquities," the statement added.

Iraq was represented at the signing by its ambassador to Ankara Dr. Hassan al-Janabi, while officials from Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism were also in attendance.

Iraq’s antiquities have been vulnerable to theft and destruction since 2003 especially, facing government neglect and rampant looting by Iraqis and foreigners during cycles of violence.

During Islamic State (ISIS) control of parts of Iraq and Syria, many priceless museum-housed artefacts and sites of heritage were destroyed or altered beyond recognition for not adhering to ISIS doctrine.

For those artefacts unharmed, neighbouring Turkey became part of a smuggling route for their black market sale to art collectors worldwide.

As Iraq enters a period of relative stability, debate rages among local and foreign historians, archaeologists, preservationists, curators, and everyday Iraqis on the repatriation of artefacts. 

Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture Mohammed Ali al-Hakim announced in late July that the country successfully recovered 173 historical artefacts illegally unearthed in and exported from Iraq – part of some 5,300 pieces to “soon” be returned to Iraq from various sources.

A fraction of Iraqi antiquities housed at arts institutions worldwide have been returned to the country. The British Museum in July announced the handing over of a selection of artefacts smuggled out of Iraq and Afghanistan during periods of conflict.  

Iraq has also urged for the halt of sale of artefacts coming from its territory, including a 3,000-year-old Assyrian relief sold by New York auction house Christie’s for $31 million in October 2018.