Today I will tell you about the mystery excavation in Tarsus. Tarsus is located in Mersin, and Mersin is a province in Turkey.

On November 4, 2017, the excavation ended, and there has been much speculation and theorizing, but the facts have never been clear. Here is a summary of what happened from the beginning to the present day:

In 2012, Police Officer Mithat Erdal, who was assigned to the traffic department, infiltrates a treasure gang. As Erdal gains the trust of the gang members, he discovers that valuable candlesticks and coins are being unearthed beneath the mentioned house. Realizing that the situation is escalating, he goes to the district police chief to report the situation. However, he sees that his superiors are covering up something when he reflects the situation. He conveys this process to his spouse with the following words:

"For some time now, I have been infiltrating the treasure hunters as an informant. They have been excavating an important sarcophagus. The district police chief assigned me and I infiltrated on behalf of the anti-smuggling department. I am reporting everything that is happening. Inside the sarcophagus, there is a very valuable treasure consisting of 32 candlesticks, goblets, coins, and more. Yesterday evening, based on my tip-off, the anti-smuggling department conducted a raid before the sarcophagus lid was opened. Seven people were arrested. However, today I noticed that the report doesn't mention anything about the treasure; it states that the sarcophagus was empty. I objected and went to explain the situation to the police chief, but he silenced me. It turns out they were all part of the gang."

After these events, Erdal declares that he will directly report what happened to Ankara (the capital of Turkey). During this process, his personal firearm is confiscated for a period of 15 days. Meanwhile, he has been exposed by the gang he infiltrated and is constantly under threat. After 15 days, his firearm is returned to him, but one day later, he is shot in the back of his head and loses his life during a "playful" altercation. In the murder investigation, there is not a single mention of the events or the treasure hunters. The person who fired the gun, Hüseyin Yasak, is sentenced to 25 years in prison, and the investigation is closed.

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Mithat Erdal and his wife

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Mithat Erdal's wife claims that three days after his death, while she was at her father's house in Hatay, their home was thoroughly searched by the police, and the CD on which Mithat Erdal had said "If anything happens to me, this CD is collateral" disappeared.

The year is 2016, and in the intervening four years, although Erdal's wife says, "My husband's death is not a simple incident, he was killed by treasure hunters," but no one cares. In 2016, after the July 15th military coup attempt, when some of the police officers in the Tarsus police department who were in charge of treasure and murder investigations were dismissed on the grounds that they were in FETÖ (the name given to the parallel state that tried to attemp the military coup), Sibel Erdal (Mithat's wife) wrote a letter to the president to reopen the investigation. After this letter, the investigation is reopened and an excavation is started in the house that Mithat Erdal last rented (it should be noted that while comparable houses in the same neighborhood were rented for 300-500 liras, the treasure hunters agreed with the landlord for 5000 liras per month), in other words, in the place where the famous excavation took place.

The excavation that starts in the house gradually attracts everyone's attention because it becomes clear that the process is not the same as previous treasure or archaeological excavations. A team of 20 people works day and night on a 24-hour basis. All their needs are met at the excavation site and they are cut off from the outside world. Special operations police with heavy weaponry stand guard in the entire neighborhood. Let alone the excavation site, the entire neighborhood where the excavated shantytown is located is virtually under siege. MP (Member of Parliament) Aytuğ Atıcı went to the here 5 times after the excavation became a public agenda. Here he wants to get information from the authorities, he asks "Where are you coming from?", he gets the answer "Don't ask". The authorized officer he talks to is probably an intelligence (MIT) officer, he tells him; "This is related to the Vatican, sir. This is an important issue. believe me, we are doing an important job here. I ask you to be patient for 10 days".

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The house where the excavation took place

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During these visits, MP Aytuğ Atıcı contacted the archaeological associations. He says, "Let's go together and you can determine the nature of the excavation being carried out there." But no one wants to go with him, and he declares that everyone who can be considered an expert on the subject tells him that what is being done has nothing to do with an archaeological excavation. The excavation probably covers such a large area that even the walls of the houses in the neighborhood near the excavated house have collapsed and cracked. Residents of the neighborhood even claim that the excavation team told them "If you want, rent out your house and we will pay your rent, or if you sell your house, we will buy it". As a result, the excavation, which lasted for a year, was finished one day. The relevant authorities say that no significant findings were found for cultural heritage as a result of the excavation and the excavation is thus over.

So what are the allegations made in this 1 year?

Tarsus is an important location for the history of Christianity. Many of the names in the Gospels are rumored to have lived here. In response to this, it was first rumored that the Gospel of Barnabas was found. Later on, the claims turned to the discovery of St. Paul's lost gospel (according to MP Aytuğ Atıcı, who I believe has made great efforts to shed light on this incident, claims that the coordinates were given directly from the Vatican to the treasure gang that is thought to have killed Mithat Erdal).

Actually, I was going to write about the other allegations, but they are bullshit. So I'll pass.

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So, where is the biggest rumor, "St. Paul's lost bible has been found" based on?

• Aytuğ Atıcı was told by the authorized officer he met with, "Sir, this is related to the Vatican" and Atıcı expressed this.

• Rumors that the coordinates of the famous house were given to the treasure hunters directly by the Vatican,

• The fact that Tarsus is at a key point in the history of Christianity,

• And perhaps most importantly, following the announcement of the completion of the excavation, for the first time in the history of the Republic of Turkey, official contact was established with the Vatican and President Erdoğan visited the Pope in the Vatican.

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Erdogan and the Pope

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