Mysterious excavation in Tarsus, Mersin, Southern Turkey

[bozadi]

You might want to check the following reports about the mystery excavation that goes on under the protection of Turkish police and special forces for about a year and about which no specific explanation was made by the State officials (other than the Turkish PM's recent explanation that it is an archaeological excavation, cited in the third link)

http://turkishnewstuhaf.blogspot.com.tr/2017/01/mysterious-treasure-excavation-in-tarsus.html (a Turkey-based American guy's funny comments about various events in Turkey, January 2017)

https://news.sol.org.tr/mysterious-excavation-under-turkish-special-forces-supervision-172720 (a leftist Turkish news portal's report about the event dated July 2017)

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2017/11/01/mystery-surrounding-excavation-in-southern-turkey-continues-to-baffle-locals (Another report that seems to be published today, containing the most specific information about the excavation).

One of the interesting claims about the digging among public people is that it might be involving the Bible of the Apostle Paul, who is historically known to have lived in this specific region. But, there seems to be no concrete finding to support this claim. There are also references to other historical personages such as Daniel and his treasure, etc. What seems to be certain is that, if nothing else, the findings are valued materials to be displayed in a museum. I hope that state officials or any other groups do not steal or hide anything about it.

 

[bozadi]

Oh, I just noticed that the claims about St. Paul connection are not just made by public but the CHP Deputy himself.

I want to share a translation of a news report from http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/vatikan-aziz-paulun-incilini-arattiriyor-40629506:

A shocking claim from the Turkish deputy about the secret excavation in Tarsus!

Turning its first year under the shadow of an official decision of secrecy, the mystery surrounding the excavation in the 82 Evler neighborhood of Tarsus has gained a new dimension thanks to new claims. In his unsuccessful attempt to enter the house of excavation for the fifth time, Aytuğ Atıcı, the CHP Deputy of Mersin, asserted that the enigma about the event is related to the lost Gospel of Saul of Tarsus.

Atıcı declared that he received information suggesting that treasure hunters were employed based on a coordinate sent directly from Vatican before the excavation was started. Atıcı made the following statements about his one-year investigation:

"ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE SCARED"

"I have failed to take any archaeologist there. I made a call to the Turkish Archaeologists Association that involves numerous archaeologists. I told them, 'I am a physician, so I won't be able to understand what is going on even if I enter that place, so come with me.' But they are too worried to go there. Specialists say that this is not an archaeological excavation. It is a place of treasure, that is, the State looks for a treasure. When I went there for the first time, they took me to the dooryard. And I was greatly surprised to see 4 holes resembling cave mouths. They swore solemnly that nothing had come out of it. But why then it is protected by Special Forces 24/7? That day, I talked with the highest official of that place in a tent. In order to protect him, policemen carrying long barreled weapons formed a wall of flash around us. I asked him 'Where you come from?', and he replied 'Don't ask that'. I think he was an official of the MIT (Turkish Central Intelligence Agency). That guy said that the event had involved multiple international ties. He told, 'This is connected with Vatican. This is a national issue. Believe me that we are carrying out a nation-scale job here. I kindly request you to wait for 10 days.' But more than 10 months have elapsed since.

A TREASURE WOULD BE A DROP IN THE OCEAN

"This is not a job carried out for 3 or 5 kg of gold. I personally claim that this was about the Gospel of Saint Paul. It is what is being sought. It is claimed that, before this secret excavation, some persons had illegitimately carried out an excavation under the support of Vatican. It is also claimed that a specific coordinate was provided by Vatican. They rented two houses in advance. Although the ordinary monthly rent was 300 to 500 TL, they rented those houses for five thousand TL. And they purchased another house for an extremely high price. The policeman inside them allegedly committed suicide. But what kind of a suicide is this? He was shot in the back of his neck while he was cleaning his gun. And the public prosecutor of that time allegedly believed in this and closed the file. So this is an event with many aspects. It is believed that St. Paul is the most important person in Christianity following Jesus. The treasurer of the Emperor Decius would be just a drop in the ocean compared to that Gospel. And if that Gospel has gone, then it will never return. Vatican would give the whole world but not that Gospel. It is just priceless. And what we demand is just transparency after all this time. Transparency will prevent abuses. Anything that comes out of that excavation belongs to the entire nation."

 

[bozadi]

The following news excerpt, which was published just a few hours ago, claims that the secret about the excavation has been revealed.

From: http://www.abcgazetesi.com/mersindeki-gizemli-evin-sirri-cozuldu-68085h.htm

The secret of the mysterious house in Mersin has been revealed!

The secret of the mysterious excavation being carried out in a house in Tarsus, Mersin, under the supervision of special operation policemen has been solved. It is revealed that a gate was found under that house leading to underground city belonging to the Roman era.

Kubilay Gürbek, a news editor of "A Haber" News Channel, told about the mysterious excavation being carried out in Tarsus, Mersin, "Tarsus has a particular characteristic, that is, it has a history dating back to 300 BC. Many empires were established in this region. Underground cities were created. So the region possesses secret underground cities established by different empires. There are secret underground cities under Tarsus. The famous red house is where a gate opening to a Roman underground city was found."

THE MURDERED POLICEMAN WORKED WITH TREASURE HUNTERS!

"The gate which opens to the external part of a historical underground city is under that house. This house has a courtyard. The courtyard was dug from 4 different places. There is an archaeological excavation in that house. The State searches for a treasure. This issue is being explained in this way for a purpose. There is a perception involved. This excavation is being carried out by the Directorate of Museums of Mersin. As for the beginning of these operations… Treasure hunters found a map. They identified this house and determined that the door opening to the underground city is under the house. They made excavations to reach the treasures. Mithat Erdal, the policeman who was murdered, had worked in cooperation with the treasure hunters. The former police chief of the district, Yaşar Aksoy, knows all about these. He is also a name who was put in prison in the context of FETÖ (Gulenist Terrorist Organization) investigations.

CHP DEPUTY HAD REFERENCED TO A "LOST GOSPEL"

Aytuğ Atıcı, the CHP Deputy for Mersin, previously claimed that the activity in the excavation house, which he tried to enter for the fifth time and which he has been investigating for one year, related to the "Lost Gospel" of Saint Paul of Tarsus and that treasure hunting was being made in the excavation. Now the mystery surrounding this event has been solved.

Some part of the explanation by the news editor is somewhat vague. He seems to imply that claims about "treasure hunting by the State" are not true.

 

[Laura]

Paul wasn't from Tarsus, that was made up by the author of Acts. So the connection was imagined, not real.

 

[bozadi]

Paul wasn't from Tarsus, that was made up by the author of Acts. So the connection was imagined, not real.

Thank you for the note, Laura. Yes, it seems that the CHP deputy was misinformed or disinformed by the intelligence guy that he mentions. I think you and the Cs mentioned that Paul/Saul was one of the Herodians, who were based somewhere near Jerusalem.

 

[Laura]

Paul wasn't from Tarsus, that was made up by the author of Acts. So the connection was imagined, not real.

Thank you for the note, Laura. Yes, it seems that the CHP deputy was misinformed or disinformed by the intelligence guy that he mentions. I think you and the Cs mentioned that Paul/Saul was one of the Herodians, who were based somewhere near Jerusalem.

No, I didn't say that either.

 

[bozadi]

Paul wasn't from Tarsus, that was made up by the author of Acts. So the connection was imagined, not real.

Thank you for the note, Laura. Yes, it seems that the CHP deputy was misinformed or disinformed by the intelligence guy that he mentions. I think you and the Cs mentioned that Paul/Saul was one of the Herodians, who were based somewhere near Jerusalem.

No, I didn't say that either.

Oh, I'm very sorry. I might have misinterpreted the following dialog in the session dated 11 October 2014:

Q: (L) Was Paul a member of the Herodian family? That is, was the Saul who WAS a member of the Herodian family as described by Josephus the same Saul that was the Apostle Paul?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) So, in other words, Paul was not from Tarsus? Is that correct?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Paul was... Where was Paul from?

A: Near Jerusalem.

 

[bozadi]

Wikipedia item for Herodians mentions:

The Herodians (Herodiani) were a sect or party of Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions — first in Galilee, and later in Jerusalem — manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus (Mark 3:6, 12:13; Matthew 22:16; cf. also Mark 8:15, Luke 13:31-32, Acts 4:27). In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees.[1]

When I first read this wikipedia article after coming across the term "Herodian" in the mentioned session, I think I inadvertently associated Herodians with Jerusalem mainly because of the session references to Herodians and then to Jerusalem. I somehow combined them in my mind. Probably wrongly so. So it seems that Herodians were not necessarily based in Jerusalem.

 

[John G]

Wikipedia item for Herodians mentions:

The Herodians (Herodiani) were a sect or party of Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions — first in Galilee, and later in Jerusalem — manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus (Mark 3:6, 12:13; Matthew 22:16; cf. also Mark 8:15, Luke 13:31-32, Acts 4:27). In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees.[1]

When I first read this wikipedia article after coming across the term "Herodian" in the mentioned session, I think I inadvertently associated Herodians with Jerusalem mainly because of the session references to Herodians and then to Jerusalem. I somehow combined them in my mind. Probably wrongly so. So it seems that Herodians were not necessarily based in Jerusalem.

Paul in particular traveled a lot so the idea of being based somewhere doesn't overly fit for Paul. Paul's travels included Caesarean colonies and this is probably a more important clue related to Paul's work than Jerusalem and Tarsus.