There are 115 ancient theaters either completely unearthed or are still being excavated, said Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koç on Thursday during a visit to the Kartepe Skiing Center located in the province of Kocaeli.

In response to questions from reporters, Koç said that archaeological and excavation work continues to unearth the cultural and natural wealth of Turkey.

"Some portion of tourism revenue is utilized for this purpose. Around YTL 9 million was allocated for excavation work last year," he said.

"We will unearth them completely and later restore them. There are still around 2,600 unexcavated tumuli. This is an extraordinary situation that can't be seen in any other part of the world."

"We will gather all local excavation teams in April and discuss the problems of excavation work. Excavation and unearthing processes are not enough. We will want teams to excavate provided they later restore what is found," he said.

"However, we are open to serious proposals from Europe and Japan," the Anatolia news agency quoted the minister as saying.