Six people were arrested in Turkey during a police operation carried out in the province of Niğde, in the centre of the country, on suspicion of trying to sell an ancient mummy on the black market. Experts date the mummy to the Middle Ages.
According to the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, Turkish gendarmerie officers launched the operation as part of efforts to combat the illegal smuggling of cultural and historical objects. The investigation began after Turkish security forces received reports that a group of people were planning to sell in the Bor district a well-preserved mummy of a man from the Middle Ages.
Before the sale could take place, the gendarmes carried out a raid on the home of one of the main suspects, identified by the initials H. G., arresting a total of six people and confiscating the mummy, which despite its great age was found to be intact and was handed over to the relevant authorities to be examined and preserved.
In a statement, the governor of Niğde thanked the security forces for protecting the valuable cultural heritage of Turkey: ‘We extend our gratitude to our gendarmerie teams for their dedicated efforts to preserve the historical treasures of our country, and we congratulate them on the successful completion of the operation. We reaffirm our commitment to safeguard our cultural heritage with determination.’
Turkey has a rich history dating back thousands of years, and Niğde itself houses a collection of several well-preserved mummies in its archaeological museum; among them the so-called ‘Sister Mummy’, found in the Ihlara Valley of Aksaray in the Cappadocia region, as well as four mummies of children found in the so-called ‘Çanlı Church’, an ancient Byzantine settlement in the region.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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