Turkish archeologists to lead all excavations: Minister

ANKARA

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced that Turkish archaeologists, for the first time, will lead all excavations previously carried out by foreign scientific committees in the scope of the new "Heritage to the Future" project.

Speaking at the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, where the budget of the Culture and Tourism Minister for 2024 was discussed, Ersoy announced the launch of the "Heritage to the Future" project.

"With this project, we aim to complete in the next four years the equivalent of what has been done in Türkiye in the last 60 years in the field of archaeology. This means a 15-fold increase in the work carried out per year."

The project will include 18 excavation sites, such as Pergamon, Aphrodisias, Sardes, Sagalassos, Hattusa, Ephesus, and Hierapolis.

"We will appoint a ‘coordinator excavation head' from Turkish scientists to ensure coordination in these excavations. For the first time in our history, all of the excavations, which started under the leadership of foreign delegations about 160 years ago, will be carried out under the presidency and coordination of Turkish scientists. This is a turning point in the history of Turkish archaeology," Ersoy said.

Noting that the era of the "Museum National Inventory System" has begun in museology, Ersoy said, "The documentation and tracking of artifacts can now be carried out in a digital environment. Currently, 735,000 artifacts have been included in the system, and we will digitize all of our artifacts within four years."

Ersoy also mentioned that with the "Identification Project for the Security of Historical Artifacts," which will cover all artifacts within five years, identification has been made for 82 percent of the artifacts on display in museums.

A total of 359,059 artifacts were brought to Türkiye from abroad this year.