Turkish authorities have secured the return of 21 Roman-era terracotta pots smuggled from Anatolia years ago from the United States.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized the pots in 2010. Turkey then initiated a legal process for their return.

The return marks the first artifact repatriation of 2022 for Ankara, which pursues international efforts to retrieve historic items taken abroad over the years by smugglers.

Burcu Özdemir, a Culture and Tourism Ministry official, said the process took longer for repatriation due to legal procedures and the COVID-19 pandemic. Özdemir told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Thursday that the pots were in good condition and were handed over to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in the capital Ankara. She said Turkey and the U.S. signed an agreement to prevent smuggling of artifacts and repatriation of smuggled artifacts last year but the agreement did not cover the latest repatriation. "Still, it is in the spirit of this cooperation. This cooperation will help us to repatriate more artifacts," she added.

Turkey, the cradle of civilizations, from Hittites to Ottomans and home to a large trove of Roman and Byzantine legacy, strives to recover artifacts looted or smuggled abroad, especially in the past.

In 2021, it recovered some 3,480 of its cultural assets thanks to the efforts of the country's anti-smuggling authorities.

The process for recovering artifacts involves multiple state agencies, including law enforcement and judicial authorities, as well as diplomatic efforts and legal cases with the countries where the artifacts are found. The policy to take cultural assets abroad without official permission was outlawed in the Ottoman Empire in 1906 and continues under the Republic of Turkey, founded in 1923. Under the current legislation that has been in place since then, unlicensed excavation is illegal, as is failing to report any uncovered artifacts to the authorities.