" Our Artifacts Abroad " panel was held at the Expo Heritage Fair. In the panel where the historical artifacts that were illegally taken abroad from Turkey and returned to Turkey were discussed, Patara Excavation Director Prof. Dr. Havva Iskan Isik said, "Of course, we will call smuggled to a smuggled one and a thief who is thieving.” Expo Heritage, which has adopted social mission of increasing awareness and protection of cultural heritage, started previous day in Istanbul, Lutfi Kirdar International Convention and Exhibition Centre. In the panel titled 'Our Artifacts Abroad' moderated by Archeology and Art Publications Editor Nezih Basgelen, Zeynep Boz Head of Anti-Smuggling Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Omer Erbil Deputy Director General of Demirören News Agency, Prof. Dr. Havva Iskan Isık Lecturer at Akdeniz University Classical Archeology Department and Antalya Publicity Foundation President Yeliz Gul Ege made a keynote speeches. 'CIVILIZED WEST' HAS STARTED THE DESTRUCTION IN ANATOLIA Stressing that civilization went from Anatolia to West, Prof Isik said “The points of view that I will convey are binding my thoughts in principle. The cultural heritage of Anatolia is in great plunder. Since the 17th century, It is a process that arises from the effort of some people in this country to create a cultural identity and resume from scratch, not re-creation. The 'civilized West' started this plunder by describing its opponent as a barbarian, ignorant and collapsing Ottoman state. Of course, we will call smuggled to a smuggled one and a thief who is thieving. Whenever we mentioned Pergamon or Troy, they say 'you gave me permission'. You will be the representative of civilization and you will take away the artifacts that should never be taken from my land. Such a thing is unacceptable. We do not accept this as Turkey's academics. We do not want to tolerate the perspective that the heritage of this country cannot be protected by this country and its citizens. What we refer to as 'stones' are the ancient structures of Anatolia. Their perspective on the Anatolian culture that they have created is an extremely wrong attitude," she said. “THE SENSE OF ‘THESE ARTIFACTS ARE NOT NEEDED FOR US’, IS WRONG” Saying “We have a classical perception and unfortunately we cannot destroy it”, Omer Erbil added “For years, they have presented the imposition, the understandings that says, 'We already have these artifacts, these are not necessary for us, these were not all appropriate for our religion, so these were given in Ottoman times'. When we go back 160-170 years about protecting the cultural foundation, we see that the basis of these impositions and understandings is the cover of the theft committed by the West in Anatolia. We accepted this imposition because we did not entered the Ottoman Archives to research and to know much about the real scale of this.” Mentioning the well-known mistakes, Erbil, gave detailed examples about Troy and Bergama which is on the agenda. Erbil also emphasized that 2863 laws should be regulated in order to fight the smuggling of historical artifacts.