Religious artefacts finally returned to Cyprus

According to an announcement from Walk of Truth, “some of the world’s finest religious art, recovered through a unique police sting operation in 1997, were finally restored to the people of Cyprus by the German authorities.“

The objects are part of a cache of thousands of mosaics, icons and other cultural objects which were found in the possession of Aydin Dikmen, a Turkish-born art dealer, during and after a police raid on his Munich apartment on October 10, 1997.

“Most of these objects had been looted from churches in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus in the wake of the island’s invasion in 1974. Their discovery followed a sting operation carried out by 70 officers of the Bavarian police and Walk of Truth’s founder, Mrs Tasoula Hadjitofi, who was acting for the Church of Cyprus. The operation also involved Michel van Rijn, a Dutch art dealer who acted as an intermediary....