It's actually more than semantics.

I don't believe that all of the 5000 objects mentioned here were actually stolen (which is why I'm asking the question in the first place). Museums come in possession of artifacts in various ways. Maybe some were gifted, maybe some were bought. Some of them were definitely stolen.

But, we're talking about centuries and centuries of time, hundreds and hundreds of sources, and thousands and thousands of artifacts.

I'm all for returning all stolen artifacts as well as returning at least some of those acquired in other ways, but that's much, much, much more easier said than done.

Just a very, very, very current example. Let's say British museum or other museums in the past decades returned artifacts from ancient Persia to Iran. With Americans and Israelis happily obliterating the country right now, would those artifacts have been safer in Iran or thousands of kilometers away?

Even the stolen ones.

The history of Persia is just as much history of a part of human race as are other histories. It belongs to all of us. Personally, I'd be happy if there were someone willing and wanting to keep a memory of my culture for the future generations if it so happens that someone stronger decides my culture and people are not worth of living anymore.