Türkiye has launched an aerial monitoring and security center to protect the ancient city of Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe in western Manisa province from illegal excavations and other threats to cultural heritage.
Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy inaugurated the center near Karnıyarık Hill, overlooking Bintepeler, saying the system would use long-range drones equipped with night-vision capabilities to monitor the archaeological area around the clock.
Bintepeler stretches across approximately 75 square kilometers (nearly 30 square miles) and contains more than 120 monumental burial mounds, including the tomb of Lydian King Alyattes. Sardis and the Lydian Tumuli of Bin Tepe were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025.
The monitoring center was established by renovating a former excavation house near Karnıyarık Hill. It is equipped with two unmanned aerial vehicle systems, three antenna systems to expand coverage, central monitoring systems, large screens and environmental security cameras.
Security personnel assigned to the center in shifts have completed drone piloting training and the required certification processes, Ersoy said. If suspicious activity or an attempt at illegal excavation is detected, information will be rapidly shared with gendarmerie units for intervention.
“Technology is being used to detect, deter and prevent illegal excavation attempts as early as possible,” Ersoy said.
The minister said the project would also provide data to help develop new protection policies and determine additional measures needed to safeguard archaeological sites.
Ersoy said Türkiye’s efforts to combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property are based on three pillars: prevention, international cooperation and repatriation.
“Bringing back a cultural property after years of efforts is a great achievement,” Ersoy said. “Our main goal, however, is to ensure that the artifact never leaves the land to which it belongs in the first place.”
He said some of the tumuli at Bintepeler had previously suffered serious and irreversible damage from illegal excavations involving heavy machinery, highlighting the need to detect threats across the vast archaeological landscape as early as possible.
The new system, he said, represents the preventive component of the country’s strategy.
Ersoy also pointed to Türkiye’s cooperation with UNESCO, Interpol, the World Customs Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
He said a memorandum of understanding with the United States regulating import restrictions on cultural property, originally signed in 2021, was extended in 2026 for another five years.
Cooperation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has also contributed to the return of cultural artifacts to Türkiye, Ersoy said.
Ersoy said Türkiye has secured the return of 13,474 cultural artifacts since 2002, including 9,159 over the past eight years.
Among the recent returns were bronze imperial statues from the ancient city of Boubon, including a statue of Marcus Aurelius, following years of research and international cooperation.
An Eros head returned from the United Kingdom was reunited with the Sidamara sarcophagus, while a mosaic panel repatriated from the U.S. was reunited with 12 pieces from the same composition that had previously been returned to Türkiye.
Ersoy also cited architectural panels from Düver returned from the U.S. and Denmark, Urartian bronze artifacts from Switzerland, Anatolian coins from Greece, an inscription from Şile Bozgoca Mosque returned from the Netherlands, and Iznik tiles returned from the U.K.and Spain.
Artifacts originating from Manisa have also been repatriated. Ersoy said a roughly 2,700-year-old gold necklace from the region was returned from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, while a Lydian-period bronze kline was brought back from the Getty Museum following scholarly research.
He also highlighted 10 Lydian funerary and votive steles originating from Manisa that were identified for sale in the U.S. and returned to Türkiye in 2014 following years of monitoring by the Culture Ministry and cooperation between the FBI and the Turkish police liaison office in Washington.
A Kilia-type idol originating from Kulaksızlar in Manisa’s Akhisar district was also returned from the U.S. through cooperation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations, he said.
Ersoy said technology alone would not be enough to protect Bintepeler and stressed the importance of local communities taking ownership of the archaeological heritage.
He said the model developed at Bintepeler could provide valuable experience for protecting other archaeological sites spread across large areas.
“For thousands of years, Bintepeler has carried the memory of this land. From now on, we will also protect it from the sky,” Ersoy said.
