Türkiye Recovers Two Stolen 16th-Century Iznik Tiles from UK Auction House

By Bosphorus News Culture Desk

Pulled from a London Auction

Two Iznik tiles dating to the 16th century, stolen from two of Istanbul's most significant Ottoman mosques, have been returned to Türkiye after they were identified while being prepared for auction in the United Kingdom.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the recovery on 17 March, stating: "We have secured the return to our country of 2 Iznik tiles dating to the 16th century, stolen from Sultanahmet Mosque and Rüstem Paşa Mosque. The tiles have been placed under protection at our Ankara Ethnography Museum."

Iznik tiles, produced in the northwestern Anatolian town of İznik from the 15th century onward, are among the most prized objects of Ottoman decorative art. Both Sultanahmet and Rüstem Paşa mosques contain some of the finest surviving examples, making tiles from these interiors particularly significant and particularly targeted.

How They Were Found

Ersoy credited a coordinated effort involving the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, along with the Turkish Embassy in London and the London Metropolitan Police. Forensic analysis by Turkish specialists established that the tiles belonged to the two mosques.

He specifically highlighted the role of the ministry's AI-assisted tracking platform: "I would particularly like to emphasise that we made use of the 'TraceArt' system, which is used within the scope of our 'AI-Supported Cultural Heritage Identification Project' for scanning and archiving Türkiye-origin cultural assets that are subject to trafficking on the internet."

TraceArt is a state-developed tool that monitors online platforms and auction databases for illegally trafficked Turkish cultural property.

The individual in possession of the tiles agreed to return them voluntarily after the auction was withdrawn.

Part of a Sustained Recovery Programme

The return adds to a significant run of repatriations under the current ministry. According to figures published by Hürriyet in December 2025, 13,448 artefacts had been returned to Türkiye between 2002 and the end of 2025, with 9,133 of those recovered in the 2018-2025 period alone. In 2025, 180 items were returned.

Notable recent repatriations include a bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, looted from the ancient city of Boubon in Burdur province and recovered from the United States, which was displayed at the Presidential National Library's "Golden Age of Archaeology" exhibition. New York returned 43 antiquities to Türkiye in a separate ceremony, including Urartian bronze objects, a Lydian silver phiale and Roman-era armoured figures, as Bosphorus News reported.

Ersoy closed with a direct statement of intent: "We will continue our struggle until every single one of our artefacts, of which we are the heirs, is returned to the lands it belongs to and to our nation, its rightful owner."