A municipal worker in Turkey's Aegean province of Manisa found a bag containing TL 2 million in a local park and returned it to its bereft owner.

Durmuş Uğur spotted the bag containing cash and checks on a bench Thursday while watering plants and trees in the province's Turgutlu district and turned it in to his superiors to find its owner.

Speaking at a ceremony attended by the bag's owners, Çetin Akın, the district's mayor, praised Uğur's exemplary behavior as a model for all of Turkey. Uğur was awarded a gold coin by Turgutlu Municipality. Speaking to reporters following the ceremony, Uğur said the bag's owner, Mahsun Örge, wanted to give him a gift, but he did not accept it. "I did my duty to humanity. I can't accept something that isn't mine," he said.

Uğur is a father of two children, one of whom suffers from epilepsy, and is paying TL 90,000 in housing and credit card debt.