Home of Göbeklitepe’s late professor Klaus Schmidt burgled

ŞANLIURFA – Anadolu Agency

The home of the late German professor Klaus Schmidt, who shed light on the history of humanity with his findings at Göbeklitepe, known as the “zero point of history,” has been burgled. 

Many objects were reportedly stolen from the house in the Kadıoğlu neighborhood of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Eyyübiye district. 

His wife Çiğdem Köksal Schmidt, who lives in Germany, announced the burglary on her social media account.

“I was planning to be there in one wee. I did not have the heart to reconnect with our memories there for three years [since Schmidt’s death]. But I was plaknning to see the traces of our life together once again. However, now our house in Şanlıurfa was burgled two days ago and they looted everything. They removed seven air conditioners and loaded them onto a truck in front of the house. They took things in order to sell them, but what will they do with personal belongings like beds, blankets, papers and pencils?” she wrote. 

Schmidt, who died of a heart attack at the age of 61 while swimming in Germany, had been working at Göbeklitepe for 20 years for the German Archaeology Institute. Through his work he managed to prove that the Neolithic-age ancient site contained the world’s oldest temple. 

He had published books on the Göbeklitepe excavations in Turkish, German, Italian and Russian, along with countless scientific articles and work on exhibitions and conferences across the world.