Published on, Sept. 20 -- September 20, 2025 2:03 PM

ISTANBUL - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has firmly rejected Israel's request to return a 2,700-year-old Hebrew inscription discovered during the Ottoman era. The artifact, known as the Siloam Inscription, was found in a tunnel beneath Jerusalem and is currently housed in Istanbul's Archaeology Museum.

The ancient limestone tablet, dating back to the biblical period, describes the construction of a tunnel believed to be part of Jerusalem's ancient water system. It was discovered in 1880 while Jerusalem was under Ottoman rule and was later transported to Constantinople (now Istanbul), where it remains preserved to this day.

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