Missing fragments from one of Turkey\u2019s most striking ancient treasures,\nthe haunting, wide-eyed \u201cGypsy Girl\u201d mosaic, have returned home more than half\na century after they were plundered and smuggled to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, the returned pieces went on display alongside the\nnearly 2,000-year-old mosaic of the girl, whose piercing gaze and disheveled\nhair have become a symbol of Turkey\u2019s southeastern city of Gaziantep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkish archaeologists discovered the mosaic 20 years ago during\nan excavation of the old city of Zeugma, founded by one of Alexander the\nGreat\u2019s generals, near the modern city of Gaziantep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also realized that several accompanying pieces had already\nbeen looted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those pieces had been smuggled out of the country in the 1960s\nand bought by Bowling Green State University in Ohio in the United States,\nwhich displayed them until 2012 when their true provenance was established and\nTurkey asked for their return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The university initially asked Turkey to buy them back, a\nrequest which Ankara rejected, according to Sedat Gulluoglu, Turkey\u2019s tourism\nministry attache in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After more than five years of talks, an agreement was signed for\ntheir return. \u201cThe university has signed off on a very important and\nsignificant cooperation by returning these pieces to our country as goodwill,\u201d\nGulluoglu said by email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that Turkey would provide the university with exact\nreplicas of the mosaics to display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old city of Zeugma, on the Euphrates river, flourished under\nGreek and then Roman rule before it was destroyed in war in the 3rd century AD.\nThe 15 square meter (160 square foot)Gypsy Girl mosaic is the most prominent\nsymbol of that history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, the pieces were put on exhibit at the Zeugma Mosaic\nMuseum in Gaziantep in a ceremony to celebrate their return, before which a\nsong composed to celebrate the homecoming of the mosaic pieces was played by a\nharp artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey\u2019s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, who\nlifted a cover to unveil the mosaic as visitors poured in to see the artwork,\ntold Reuters the returned pieces would greatly contribute to tourism in Turkey\nand Gaziantep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is a very important day for Turkey. A six-year process has\nbeen completed and our pieces have returned where they were born,\u201d Ersoy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gaziantep mayor Fatma Sahin said putting the full mosaic back\ntogether was a national triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt returned to Gaziantep, to its nation,\u201d Sahin told Reuters.\n\u201cThe Gypsy Girl has been reunited with her family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Missing fragments from one of Turkey\u2019s most striking ancient treasures, the haunting, wide-eyed \u201cGypsy Girl\u201d mosaic, have returned home more than half a century after they were plundered and smuggled to the United States. On Saturday, the returned pieces went on display alongside the nearly 2,000-year-old mosaic of the girl, whose piercing gaze and disheveled […]<\/p>\n