Turkiye secures return of stolen Boubon emperor statue from US

Minister of Culture and Tourism of Türkiye Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on his social media account:

“Boubon’s lost emperor is returning to our country. We have secured the repatriation of the bronze emperor statue that was smuggled from the ancient city of Boubon in Burdur through international cooperation and a determined legal pursuit. This process is one of the clearest examples of the effective struggle and international cooperation we carry out across the world to protect our cultural heritage.”

Ersoy stated that the American collector who had illegally purchased the statue would have been arrested by a U.S. court if he refused to return it, and that by handing over the artifact he avoided imprisonment, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

Minister Ersoy added:

“Along with the emperor statue, the marble head of Demosthenes and terracotta tablets from Düver will also be returned to our country. In two separate ceremonies attended by Deputy Minister Gökhan Yazgı, 28 valuable artifacts—previously included in repatriation agreements—are being returned to their homeland. In the last seven years, we have reunited 9,133 cultural assets with Anatolian soil. I thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Anti-Smuggling Department of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, whose team has tracked down these artifacts step by step like detectives since the very beginning of the process. We will continue to protect our cultural heritage and pursue every artifact belonging to Türkiye no matter where in the world it may be.”

According to the ministry’s statement, the repatriation of the bronze emperor statue, as well as the marble column capital depicting Archangel Michael from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been finalized. Provenance research revealed that the artifact was illegally removed from the Meryem Ana Peribleptos Monastery in Samatya, Istanbul.

Under the same repatriation efforts, 28 artifacts whose legal processes had already been completed were officially received from U.S. authorities by Deputy Minister Gökhan Yazgı. These include pieces originating from Boubon, archaic terracotta plaques from Düver, and a Roman-era marble head of Demosthenes.

The return of the Boubon emperor statue was secured through an investigation carried out by U.S. prosecutors and security units. An arrest warrant issued for the collector Aaron Mendelsohn, who had purchased the statue, played a key role in its repatriation.

Throughout the process, the ministry worked in coordination with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and completed all necessary procedures for the statue’s return.