Symposium on Barbaric Destruction of Syrian Monuments

DAMASCUS, (ST)-The huge damage caused to the Syrian archeological and historical sites by the terrorist war on Syria in addition to ways of preserving the Syrian cultural heritage and the illicit trafficking ofartifacts were main topics discussed during a symposium held in Damascus on Thursday by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

Director of the Legal Affairs Department at the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums Ayman Suleiman described the illicit trafficking of the cultural properties as an international plague and a crime committed by “professional” gangs, stressing that such criminal acts occupy the second position after drug trafficking.

“This international plague grows continuously to become a source of worry and the main losers are the countries which have less ability to protect their cultural properties and where corruption hugely exists,” Suleiman said.

He asserted the importance of “International cooperation is very important to put an end to this harming trade,” he added, stressing the role that can be played by the UNESCO in this respect.

Dr. Ahmad Deep, Director of the Syrian Museums’ affairs talked about the procedures adopted by the Syrian government to preserve its cultural heritage. He said that concerned authorities have moved the antiquities from endangered museums and transferred them to safer places and engaged the local community in protecting and preserving the cultural legacy. They also launched awareness campaigns and made contacts with cultural organizations like UNESCO, the International Center for the Conservation of Monuments ICCROM and the Interpol aiming to restore stolen artifacts.

Deep said that the terrorist groups’ systematic destruction of the Syrian antiquities in some unsafe areas aims to destroy the Syrian deeply rooted civilization, clarifying that Syria possesses 8000 archeological sites.            

On his part, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party’s Culture official Nabeel al-Samman told SANA that the barbaric destruction of the Syrian historical places and artifacts is part of a well studied scheme based on a Zionist-Western ideology aiming to undermine the Syrian cultural identity which exported civilizations to the entire world thousands of years ago.

Abdul Wahhab Abu Saleh, Director of the Party’s Historical Research and Documentation section said the data obtained from archeological discoveries proved that mankind existed in Syria million and a half years ago. This fact belies the Zionist allegations which claim that mankind’s existence on the Syrian land goes back to no more than 5000 years. He pointed out that the systematic destruction of antiquities in Syria and Iraq aims to eradicate the civilization of these two countries as to serve these allegations.

The symposium was attended by Deputy Secretary of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party Joseph Sweid and several members of the Party’s Higher Council.

Hamda Mustafa