According to rumors, in 2011, an Armenian woman came to Mersin's Tarsus district. She reached out to a group of treasure hunters to extract a treasure she claimed to have inherited from her ancestors. The agreement was that the treasure would be given to the treasure hunters and the woman would keep the pieces of paper and books.

Rumor has it that the excavation team soon had some disagreements and one of the team went and reported the situation to the police because they had disagreements. According to another rumor, the excavation by five people attracted the attention of the people around and they reported the situation to the police. Whatever the trigger, the police's approach to the incident was unexpected.

It was a fact that the then Tarsus Police Chief Yaşar Aksoy secretly placed a police officer from the Traffic Branch among the excavation team. Another fact was that this appointment was unrecorded, making the first fact questionable. Mithat Erdal, who unofficially infiltrated among the treasure hunters, constantly passed information to the police during the process. When the excavations began to unearth valuable pieces, some sources say papers and books, he reported the situation to the police. With this tip-off, the police launched an operation and the treasure hunters were arrested, but the seized items were not made public, on the contrary, it was declared that nothing was found during the excavation.

But Mithat Erdal knew very well what kind of treasure he had unearthed. 32 gold candlesticks, gold coins and gold bowls. This treasure was priceless. However, the mistake he made was to say that he would report all this to the higher authorities in Ankara. On the other hand, he was also telling his wife what was happening. "They are going to burn me. This is my guarantee," he said.

When Sibel Erdal claimed that her husband had been murdered and demanded an investigation, Mithat Erdal said, "I won't feed it to them, let it go into the state coffers. “If anything happens to me, my superiors in the police and the seven people they arrested are responsible.”

Eleven days after these words, on January 28, 2012, Mithat Erdal was found shot in the back of the neck with his own service weapon. The incident was explained as an explosion of the gun in his hand after a joke with his friend. His body was found in a secluded place called Şelale Yolu, more resembling an execution than an accident. Hüseyin Yasak, who shot her, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but it was concealed that it was a treasure hunt.

As Sibel Erdal mourned at her father's house in Hatay, she revealed that three days after her husband's death, the CD that he had called “my collateral” was destroyed by police officers searching their house. Unable to get rid of the pain she was in, the woman wrote a letter to President Tayyip Erdoğan in 2016 after 5 years of legal struggle and demanded that the case be reopened. Her husband had been killed in the line of duty, so she also wanted martyrdom status. The investigation was then reopened and on November 13, 2016, a team of MIT and Special Operations police officers began the never-ending excavation of the red-painted house on 3103 Street in 82 Evler Neighborhood.

The entrance and exit of the street where the excavation site is located was blocked with armored police vehicles and snipers were placed on rooftops. The area was surrounded with blue tarpaulin and wire fences. The excavation of the courtyard-like space in the middle of four houses (about 150 square meters of underground space had been excavated) drew the attention of the whole country. A common misconception was that only one house had been excavated. However, four other houses on the same parcel were also excavated underground. The red-painted, rundown house at the site belonged to police officer Mithat Erdal. Mithat Erdal had probably rented it to join the treasure hunters because the house was in disrepair and uninhabitable. There was also a green house next to that house and what Nevin Aslan, the owner, said about that period (when Mithat Erdal rented the house and also about the excavation under police supervision) is quite interesting.

''The house that Mithat Erdal rented was a very neglected, dilapidated, ruined house. In fact, when they told me that a policeman rented the house, I remember saying, ‘Would a policeman live in this house?’ It is not possible for a normal person to rent that house. The excavation that started in 2016 has ruined us. We became unable to enter our house or look out of its windows. My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter were staying in our house in the excavation area. Our house was also excavated underneath. Every night the electricity was switched off at the same time, and we saw how many times they dug something out of bags. My daughter was unable to stay at home with her family. The situation was so bad that the house started to crack. It was going to collapse with them in it. Then they moved in with us. The house is empty underneath, we know it was dug up. There were a lot of foreigners in the excavation, we couldn't understand what they were saying. We didn't understand what kind of police officer was talking to us. His teeth were missing, his face was very strange. When we asked his name, the only answer we got was: "I am from Earth.”

The mystery of the excavation, which the authorities did not explain for months, spread rapidly with the influence of social media. CHP Mersin MP Aytuğ Atıcı, who brought the excavation to the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, went to the excavation site 5 times but was not allowed to go. Scenarios about the excavation, which no one has ever seen, have also increased like an avalanche.

Claiming that it was related to the Bible of St. Paul, one of the most important figures of Christendom, MV Aytuğ Atıcı said;

"I can't take archaeologists there. I called the Archaeology Association, there are many archaeologists. I said, 'I'm a physician, I wouldn't understand even if I went there. But archaeologists can't go in out of fear. The experts say this is not an archaeological excavation. It is a treasure site, meaning the state is looking for treasure. The first time I went, they let me into the courtyard. What did I see, there were 4 holes like the mouth of a cave. They said, 'I swear to God and I know nothing came out. Then why are the Special Forces guarding the site 24 hours a day? That day the highest authority there met with me in the tent. The police surrounded us with long-barreled guns to protect him, almost like a wall of flesh. I said, ‘Where are you coming from?’ He said, 'Don't ask. I think it was an official from MIT. That person said that the incident had many international connections. 'This is related to the Vatican. Hodja, this is a national issue. Believe me, we are doing a national job here. I ask you to be patient for 10 days,' he said. But more than 10 months have passed.

This is not a job to be done for 3-5 kilos of gold. I claim that the account here is about St. Paul's Bible. This is what is wanted. The allegation is that before this secret excavation, someone was digging illegally and this was supported by the Vatican. In fact, the search coordinates and points are given by the Vatican. They rented two houses in advance. While normally the monthly rent is 300-500 liras, they rented them for 5 thousand liras. They also bought a house for a very high price. The policeman among them supposedly committed suicide. What kind of suicide; he was shot in the neck while cleaning his pistol. The prosecutor of that period supposedly believed this and closed the file. So it is a multidimensional incident. St. Paul is thought to be the most important person in Christianity after Jesus. The Dacian Treasure is a feather in the cap compared to this Bible, not even an ear. If that Bible is gone, it will never come back. The Vatican would give the world for that Bible. This cannot be priced in any way. And we want transparency after all this time. Transparency prevents abuses. After all, everything that comes out of here is the property of the nation."

Ahmet İpekoğlu (the owner of the house which is rented by Police Mithat Erdal and excavated ) had stated that the police, who came to his empty house as if they were raiding it, started the excavation unannounced, without presenting any documents.

As there was no explanation came from the authorities to satisfy the public, rumors filled the gaps. It came to the agenda that a king's tomb (sarcophagus) and tons of gold had been found there. In fact, according to the stories of those who lived there, some people went in and out countless times in the middle of the night with bags in their hands and took them away. Some likened the excavation site to Area 51 in the United States. Possible extraterrestrial life was even claimed to be the gateway to other dimensions. Another fantastic claim was that the 15 people who went there never came back. This was due to the ingenuity of a portal to another dimension formed by a stone called the Frozen Stone (Donuk Taş), which is alleged to be underground there.

After the July 15, 2016 uprising, it was revealed that the team at the Tarsus Police Department belonged to the Fetullah Gülen Terrorist Organization (FETO). The person named D. who claimed to be in charge of the excavation and the person named O.K. who was in charge of the previous excavation were arrested together with Police Chief Yaşar Aksoy on FETÖ charges. The excavation lasted for months under special operations protection, which is not the case in any archaeological excavation, and the result?

Here is the answer Arkeofili received about the mysterious Tarsus excavations within the framework of the law on access to information;

“In Mersin Province, Tarsus District, 82 Evler Neighborhood, block 214, parcel 7, where illegal excavations were carried out in 2015, the rescue excavations started in 2016 under the supervision of the Tarsus Museum Directorate with the permission of the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums of the Ministry continued in 2017.”

"In the expert report prepared by the Tarsus Museum Directorate regarding the area in question; it was stated that the area in question was registered as a Grade III Archaeological Site and that no excavation work other than scientific excavation could be carried out in the area in question. As a result of previous illegal excavations in the said area, rescue excavations were started by taking the necessary security measures."

The inadequacy and groundlessness of the statements made was also valid for our question about the Tarsus excavation finds. Our question was answered with an oil lamp fragment.

“In the rescue excavation carried out by the Directorate of Tarsus Museum on Block 214, Parcel 7 and 8, amorphous terracotta oil lamp fragments, roof tiles, amphora fragments, etc. were found in order to reveal the cultural texture and understand its nature, and it was concluded that the excavation works should be terminated since no movable and immovable cultural assets of inventory quality were found.”

Asst. Assoc. Prof. Hakan Öniz, Head of Selçuk University's Department of Underwater Archaeology, told Arkeofili that he had no opinion on the matter and only said, “I think it is a very important site.”

In 1963, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Özdoğan, who started his archaeology career at Istanbul University's Department of Prehistory and has been conducting archaeological studies almost everywhere in Turkey, told Arkeofili that he, too, had no information other than newspaper reports and had difficulty understanding the nature and process of the incident.

Commenting on the incident as very strange, Özdoğan stated that the possibility of it being an archaeology-related process is almost non-existent and that there must be another event behind it.

Excerpted from Arkeofili website.

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However, Yaşar Aksoy said, "If anyone other than the state says they know what came out of that excavation, they are lying. What is the right word?

A tragicomic case came from justice. The wife of Mithat Erdal, the police officer who wrote a letter to the President of the Republic and caused the excavation to begin, received a shocking verdict from the judiciary. Her husband was killed by treasure hunters. Sibel Erdal, who filed a lawsuit to be considered a martyr for this reason, lost the court case. The Ministry of Interior demanded 495 lira attorney's fee from Sibel Erdal as court costs. Erdal; "The court made a decision according to the investigation report prepared by FETÖ investigators. I don't know how to deal with it. While I was waiting for an apology, they demanded the sustenance of my children.

Another rumor claimed that the Vatican was also following the excavation. The Vatican denied this news in a statement issued through its Ambassador to Ankara, Archbishop Paul Russel.

Just like that, we were confronted with yet another case that has taken its place among the unsolved files of history by the public, we watched a huge theater and it was over. For those who think about it, there will still be various assumptions.

Levent Aslan

Sources :

Kaynak : Sıfır noktasından Tarsus kazısının hikâyesi ve kazıdan geriye kalanlar: Kazının tanıkları neler anlattı? - Son Dakika Cumhuriyet360 Haberleri | Cumhuriyet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBOZPXEIEIs

https://t24.com.tr/yasam/11-maddede-tarsustaki-gizemli-kazinin-hikayesi,481425#google_vignette

https://arkeofili.com/tarsustaki-esrarengiz-kazida-neler-oluyor/

https://www.cnnturk.com/turkiye/o-kazinin-sirri-belli-oldu-694721