DGAM calls on Turkey and Jordan to separate archaeology from politics
Director-General of the DGAM has called on Turkey and Jordan to separate archaeology file from politics as it is a humanitarian file representing civilization.
Maamoun Abdul Karim’s call was made after he affirmed the aggravation of the phenomena of forging the Syrian artefacts, especially mosaics in the northern and eastern regions in Syria.
He told the Damascus-based al-Watan newspaper that there are a lot of fake Palmyra statues and most of the forgers are Syrians communicating with Arab and foreign networks via neighboring countries, such as Turkey and Jordan.
“A huge number of gangs are active in Apamea city in Hama countryside,” Abdul Karim said, adding that this poses a threat to the city’s archaeological sites.
He stressed that the spread of the phenomena of faking the Syrian artefacts is ‘unprecedented’.
Abdul Karim, in addition, unveiled that Syrian artefacts have been seized in the black market in Switzerland in cooperation with Swiss policemen, journalists and scientists interested in archaeology.
“Many of European countries provide the Syrian government with information about the smuggled artefacts,” he underlined, indicating that the Directorate-General of the Antiquities and Museums [DGAM] has dozens of pictures of artefacts smuggled to European countries.
Abdul karim asserted that Turkey and Jordan do not cooperate with the international organizations as regards the artefacts smuggled via their territories and they hide information available to them for political reasons.
Syria has signed some international articles that allow it to pursue stolen artefacts in any country.
“The crime of stealing or forging artefacts is one of the most serious crimes that threatens humanitarian civilization,” Abdul Karim concluded.
Basma Qaddour