President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan examines Troy treasures in Troy Museum (on the right side, Trojan finds brought back to Turkey from the Penn Museum in 2011).
Heinrich Schliemann smuggled "Priamus' Treasure" that he found in 1873 out of Turkey. After that, the Ottoman Empire, which wanted to resolve this issue by means of law, brought Schliemann to court. At the court that took place in 1874-1875 in Athens in 1874-75, it was decided that Schliemann pay a fine of 50000 Francs. The Ottoman Empire accepted this penalty as fair and did not pursue the retrieval of the pieces further. These pieces (treasure findings and other things like pots and jugs) that were on display in Berlin until the World War II were taken to Russia as war spoils. While a small part of these are on display at the Puskin Museum in Moscow, all of them are still in the storage units of Puskin and St. Petersburg Museums. In terms of international law, especially when we think of the elapse of time, it seems impossible for these pieces to legally return. However, after the opening Troy Museum, Turkey might be able to apply ethical pressure on an international scale and at least bring back these works abroad in different status (borrowing, temporary display, etc.)
