Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, right, stands in front of an...

Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, right, stands in front of an Orthodox Christian icon after the same was repatriated and displayed at the Archeological museum in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. The returned artifacts numbering around 60, including jewelry from the Chalcolithic Period dating between 3500-1500 BC, Bronze Age bird-shaped idols, jars and spearheads as well as many Orthodox Christian icons were part of a larger haul of 250 antiquities that German authorities had seized from Turkish art dealer Aydin Dikmen in 1997. Credit: AP/Petros Karadjias

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus on Monday put on display artifacts — some of them thousands of years old — that were returned after a Turkish art dealer looted them from the ethnically divided island nation decades ago.

Aydin Dikmen took the artifacts from the country's breakaway north in the years after Cyprus’ split in 1974, when Turkey invaded following a coup mounted by supporters of union with Greece. The antiquities were kept in Germany after authorities there seized them in 1997, and protracted legal battles secured their repatriation in three batches, the last one this year.

Addressing the unveiling ceremony at Cyprus' archaeological museum, President Nikos Christodoulides said the destruction of a country’s cultural heritage as evidenced in recent conflicts becomes a “deliberate campaign of cultural and religious cleansing that aims to eliminate identity.”

Among the 60 most recently returned artifacts put on display include jewelry from the Chalcolithic Period between 3500-1500 B.C. and Bronze Age bird-shaped idols.

Antiquities that Dikmen also looted but were returned years ago include 1,500-year-old mosaics of Saints Luke, Mark, Matthew and James. They are among the few examples of early Christian works to survive the Iconoclastic period in the 8th and 9th centuries when most such works were destroyed.

Cyprus' authorities and the country's Orthodox Church for decades have been hunting for the island’s looted antiquities and centuries-old relics from as many as 500 churches in open auctions and on the black market.

The museum's antiquities curator, Eftychia Zachariou, told the ceremony that Cyprus in recent years has benefited from a shift in thinking among authorities in many countries who now opt to repatriate antiquities of dubious provenance.

An Orthodox Christian icon is seen at the Archeological museum...

An Orthodox Christian icon is seen at the Archeological museum after return from Germany, as the Cyprus' President Nikos Christodoulides, right, enters during his visit, in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, July 22, 2024. The last batch of repatriated antiquities – some dating back thousands of years - that a Turkish art dealer looted decades ago from the ethnically divided island nation’s breakaway north were put on display at the country’s archeological museum Monday. Credit: AP/Petros Karadjias

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