BAGHDAD Over 17,000 loot ancient artifacts recover from the United States. Other countries were hand over to Iraq’s Culture Ministry on Tuesday. A restitution describe by the government as the largest in the country’s history.
The majority of the artifacts date back 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia. Were recover from the US in a recent trip by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Other pieces were also return from Japan, Netherlands and Italy. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said in a joint press conference with Culture Minister Hasan Nadhim.
Nadhim said the recovery was “the largest in the history of Iraq” and the product of months of effort between the government and Iraq’s Embassy in Washington.
“There’s still a lot of work ahead in this matter. There are still thousands of Iraqi artifacts smuggle outside the country,”. “The United Nations resolutions are supporting us in the international community and the laws of other countries in which these artifacts are smuggle to are on our side.”
“The smugglers are being trap day after day by these laws and forced to hand over these artifacts,” he added.
The artifacts were hand over to the Culture Ministry in large wooden crates. A few were display but the ministry said the most significant pieces will be examine and later display to the public in Iraq’s National Museum.
Iraq’s antiquities have been loot throughout decades of war and instability since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Iraq’s government has been slowly recovering the plundered antiquities since. However, archaeological sites across the country continue to be neglect owing to lack of funds.
At least five shipments of antiquities and documents have been return to Iraq’s museum since 2016, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Leave a Reply