ISTANBUL - A peace bell gifted to a Turkish city by its Japanese sister city has been recovered after being stolen last month, according to Turkish media reports Wednesday.
The bell has been in Yalova for more than three decades as a symbol of its friendship with Tonami in central Japan's Toyama Prefecture. Acting on statements from detained suspects, local police recovered the bell from a scrap yard that had purchased it.
The suspects told police they had sold the bell for 26,000 lira ($524). The police have detained two suspects and were looking for a third.
According to the media reports, the suspects stole the 87-kilogram bell from a park in the northwestern Turkish city on the night of Sept. 14, transporting it on a three-wheeled electric bike.
When the mayor of Tonami visited Turkey in 1988, the Yalova side proposed a goodwill exchange, and the two municipalities signed their sister city partnership in October 1989, according to the Tonami city government.
Yalova Province, which includes the city, is known as a major producer of ornamental plants in Turkey, while Tonami is one of Japan's leading producers of tulip bulbs.
