Usak Governor Kayhan Kavas announced that nine people, including the director of the Usak Archaeological Museum, Kazim Akbiyikoglu, were taken into custody as part of a judicial and administrative inquiry into alleged thefts from the museum's collection of Lydian artifacts known as the Karun Treasures.
The investigation was triggered by a letter Kavas received five months ago claiming that the original Winged Sea Horse Brooch (Hippocampus), one of the collection's most valuable pieces, had been swapped for a forgery. He described the allegation as serious enough to warrant immediate action. The Usak chief prosecutor confirmed that authorities were still seeking two additional suspects.
The Karun Treasures are sixth-century B.C. Lydian artifacts that were illegally excavated from tumuli near Usak in the 1960s and subsequently sold to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Following lengthy negotiations by Türkiye's Ministry of Culture, the pieces were repatriated in 1993.
Türkiye's Culture and Tourism Ministry Inspection Board had opened a separate inquiry in December 2005 into the suspected substitution. Governor Kavas stated, "Our museum is secure," and ruled out moving the collection to another location.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.