Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced that two 16th-century Iznik tiles stolen from the Sultanahmet Mosque and Rüstem Pasha Mosque have been successfully returned to Türkiye.
According to a statement from the ministry on Tuesday, the minister made the announcement while visiting the exhibition titled “The Ottoman Sultans’ Devotion: Sacred Relics,” which highlights the Ottoman approach to serving holy sites and the long-standing tradition of preserving sacred relics.
Providing an update on the exhibition, Ersoy said: “We have secured the return of two 16th-century Iznik tiles stolen from Sultanahmet Mosque and Rüstem Pasha Mosque. The tiles are now under preservation at the Ankara Ethnography Museum.”
Ersoy visited the exhibition at the Rami Library in Istanbul, which features sacred relics, Kaaba coverings, Quran manuscripts and other distinguished artifacts.
He explained that the artifacts had been listed for sale at an auction house in the U.K., and through coordinated efforts among the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the auction listing was withdrawn after the owner agreed to return the tiles to Türkiye.
"The intensive efforts of our embassy in London, our cooperation with the London Metropolitan Police, and the scientific verification of the tiles’ provenance by our experts enabled us to achieve this outcome. I also want to emphasize that we benefited from the 'TraceArt' system under our 'AI-Assisted Cultural Heritage Identification Project,' which scans and archives online cultural heritage items originating from Türkiye that are at risk of illicit trafficking," he added.
Ersoy highlighted that these returns reflect Türkiye’s ongoing commitment to protecting its cultural heritage. “Since taking office, our determined actions against artifact smuggling, supported by strong international cooperation, have ensured that historical items are returned to their rightful home in Türkiye. We will continue until every piece of our heritage is restored to the nation,” he said.
He also connected the artifacts to the Ottoman tradition of serving holy sites, noting that sacred relics like these have been preserved for centuries and are central to Türkiye’s spiritual and cultural memory.
