AKEL condemns ongoing cultural destruction in the Middle East

Statement of AKEL C.C. Cultural Department

AKEL C.C. Press Office 3rd October 2015, Nicosia

 

The area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, known since ancient times as Mesopotamia, is the birthplace of human civilization, where writing and organized agriculture were invented, as well as the wheel and the boat. It was here that the first cities and first great civilizations developed. The brutal imperialist interventions in the Middle East, apart from constituting a flagrant violation of every notion of International Law, as well as serving specific economic interests and machinations for gaining geostrategic control, have also directly led to the destruction of humanity’s cultural heritage in this cradle of civilization.

The Cultural Department of the Central Committee of AKEL condemns the looting of antiquities organized on a global scale by the Islamic State organization in the areas under its control. The destruction of dozens of monuments of incalculable cultural value, which indeed is transmitted on television, proves today to be the smokescreen for covering up what is actually taking place in this region of the world. In the four years since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, more than 900 monuments and archaeological sites have been looted or destroyed. Some of them have even been turned into camps. What is now supported by experts and archaeologists is that the members of the Islamic State are totally destroying important historical monuments, not primarily due to fanaticism, but rather to wipe out the evidence of the looting they are committing. The illicit trade in antiquities is proving to be a source of funding for the Islamic State organization, given that antiquities from Iraq and Syria are being sold in Europe and America, thus marking the vicious refeeding of terrorism which they are supposedly combating.

Furthermore, it is worth pointing out that an operation of illicit trade in antiquities was also organized by the American forces and their allies during their presence in Afghanistan and Iraq where 170,000 registered 70,000 stolen antiquities have been recorded respectively. The Polish military forces in Iraq turned the ancient city of Babylon into a military camp destroying it to a great extent. It is proved in this way too that terrorism, together with imperialism, feed and complements each other.

The Cultural Department of the C.C. of AKEL stresses that the cultural monuments and antiquities represent a heritage for all humanity and their economic exploitation identifies with the absurdity of putting a price on the air we breathe and the water we drink