The project to find the tomb of Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan, carried out under the sponsorship of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) in Turkmenistan has been paused after it was discovered that German archaeology team participating in the project was smuggling historical artifacts.

According to reports, excavations in Turkmenistan's historic city of Merv were stopped in 2015 after German archeologists were caught smuggling artifacts at the airport.

The excavation team told the media that they had dug 47 places, excavated as much as 12 meters and were very close to finding the sultan's tomb.

TİKA has reportedly said that the excavation jointly carried out with Turkmenistan's Ministry of Culture will continue when necessary legal and bureaucratic conditions are favorable.

A protocol to find Sultan Alp Arslan's tomb and a tomb reconstruction project was signed in March 30, 2013 by former President Abdullah Gül and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedov.

TİKA, which was established in 1992, successfully implements Turkey's developmental cooperation policies abroad.

The agency is active in 50 countries where it has offices, but has conducted projects in 140 countries, especially after a revival of its work under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which has been in power since 2002.