Istanbul The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that it is preparing to hand over to Iraq five smuggled antique gold coins seized in Istanbul.
The Turkish Ministry of Culture stated in a statement today: that the Turkish Authorities seized the archaeological gold coins in the possession of a person interested in collecting archaeological artifacts, and that he obtained them in an auction outside Turkey.
The statement indicated that as a result of investigations conducted by the Turkish authorities, it became clear that the five gold coins belonged to Iraq and had been smuggled out of it illegally.
The Directorate of Archaeological Museums in Istanbul is scheduled to deliver these gold coins to the charge d’affaires of the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara on Friday.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency