The axes must be from the Bronze Age and have their origins in the Hittite Empire, in what is today eastern Turkey. They are said to have been sold to Sweden in 1910, but at that time the sale of cultural heritage objects abroad was prohibited under Turkish law.
- We believe that the sale of these cultural objects was illegal. But it is not an accusation against Swedish authorities but rather against the antique dealer who sold the objects, says Hüseyin Özen, other embassy secretary at the Turkish embassy in Stockholm to Kulturnytt.
According to Hüseyin Özen, over 4,000 cultural objects have been returned to Turkey in the last 15 years.