Turkish officials to Mayor Lupolianski: "The tablet with Siloam Inscription
will be returned to Jerusalem"
16 July 2007

Following a meeting between mayor Lupolianski and Turkish ambassador to
Israel, Mr. Namik Tan, it was agreed to look into the option of lending the
tablet with Siloam inscription to the city of Jerusalem.

The 2,700-year-old tablet, which is now presented in the Archeology Museum
in Istanbul, holds a great historical and cultural significance to the
Jewish people. It contains testimonies from the days of the first temple and
describes the construction of the tunnel by king Hezekiah. The tunnel was
dug in order to maintain water supply to besieged Jerusalem. The tablet was
discovered in 1880 by the British and taken by the Ottoman rulers when they
left the region in 1917, after world War 1.

These days there have been indications that Turkey sees Lupolianski's
request in a positive light. Therefore, the tablet might be returned to
Jerusalem as a gesture of goodwill and as a sign of friendship between the 2
peoples.

The municipality sees it as a great archeological and cultural achievement.

Throughout the years, attempts have been made in order to bring the tablet
back to its natural environment -Jerusalem .However, back then these
attempts did not succeed.

The mayor, on his part has, agreed to promote a plan to build a monument to
commemorate the Turkish soldiers who died on Israeli land/here during World
War one.

Gidi Schmerling,
Municipality's spokesman