Al-Damlogy calls Paris for reopen UNESCO office in Iraq

The Head of Culture and Information committee in Iraqi Parliment,  Maysoon al-Damlogy participated at the conference, which was held in the French capital, Paris, for the protection of Iraq's cultural heritage in the liberated areas from ISIS.

Al-Damlogy expressed, at the conference which was attended by Director of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, thanks and appreciation to the organization for its support of Iraq,  especially in the inclusion of archaeological cities in the World Heritage list,  indicating that every inch of Iraq deserves to be on this list .

Al-Damlogy pointed out that the Iraqis are very careful, with all their constituents and affiliations, to preserve the cultural heritage them, which represents a cornerstone of their national identity and their determination to renovate what was destroyed by the ISIS organization.

She called UNESCO for stepping up its presence in Iraq, to rebuild Iraq office to headquarters in Baghdad, stressing the need to consider the relevant committees in the House of Representatives as a strategic partner for the work of the organization to take advantage of its experiences and the member states in the relevant legislation of laws.

The Iraqi MP said that the conference dealt with the cultural heritage in the liberated cities and set up workshops to assess the damage and ways to protect it against smuggling operations, and religious pluralism, maintenance of mosques, churches and houses of worship as well as maintenance of museums and assess the size of losses in historical manuscripts.

The Minister of Education, Mohammad Iqbal Omar, arrived, Thursday,  to Paris to participate in conference.

According to the ministry's statement, Iqbal's participation came at the invitation from the UNESCO, with the delegation of the Republic of Iraq, which includes representative of the President of the Republic and the Minister of Culture, Mr. Raundozi. 

"The conference witnessed the participation of 80 persons in a series of sessions on the protection of archaeological sites and prevent exposure to looting," the statement said.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Culture, said that this conference is part of a series of ongoing meetings, organized by the ministry in coordination with UNESCO to sound the alarm in front of the world public opinion and to mobilize the international efforts to protect Iraqi's antiquities and cultural property from ISIS crimes, as well as  to prevent illicit trade in Iraqi antiquities.