VANDALS OF THE MIDDLE EAST

Another ancient city in the Middle East is under the threat of destruction by Islamic State extremists. Despite resistance from Syrian troops the militants have taken the city of Palmyra. UNESCO has called for an immediate cease-fire: Palmyra is one of the best known world heritage sites. Dozens of ancient monuments are concentrated here. Previously, IS militants destroyed the monuments of the Middle Eastern city of Nimrud in northern Iraq.  Using heavy equipment they razed Nimrud to the ground. A video was shown of the jihadists destroying Assyrian cultural heritage housed in the Mosul museum in northern Iraq. With regard to all this, we began our conversation with Iraq's Minister of Culture Faryad Muhammed Hassan, in which he kindly agreed to talk to R+, with IS' vandalism in Iraq.

- In view of the events occurring in your country and, to be frank, the capture of part of your territory by Islamic State terrorists, Iraq's cultural heritage is facing the threat of destruction. What does Baghdad intend to do to prevent the destruction of the cultural heritage of Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization?

- I raised this subject in my speech at the ministerial meeting as part of the III Forum on an Inter-cultural Dialogue. Unfortunately, I have to say that those who took part in this meeting ignored the subject of the crimes that are being committed by members of this terrorist organization. I would like to point out that IS' destruction of the cultural heritage of this region, the murder of civilians and ethnic cleansing could embrace vast areas.

Let us assume for a moment that IS triumphs in Iraq. If this happens, they will definitely invade the territory of another state. Such a development of events is inevitable. In other words, they will occupy another country and tighten their grip on it.

In order to put a stop to the Islamic State terrorists work must be carried out jointly at a high level. People must understand and be aware how real and dangerous this threat is if we are to counter it.

The first condition in achieving this is that states must stop the flow of their young people joining IS. States must not allow them to link up with the terrorists. Because they are ignorant of the culture of another country, the foreigners who are joining up with IS are destroying historical monuments and cultural heritage. So, to prevent the increase in the number of terrorists the first move has to be taken by those states whose young people are swearing allegiance to the cut-throats.

- Some people believe that Islamic State is in fact an instrument to split Iraq into three parts - Shia, Sunni and Kurdistan. In other words, there are forces running this organization who want to divide your country. Do you agree with this view?

- No, this is not the case. This view is a complete antithesis of the problem. IS' aim is to build a great state, not to divide Iraq. Their plans include the removal of borders between states. For example, there are no borders today between Iraq and Syria. They want to do away with borders between continents, so there is one people and one religion.

It is not IS but the various religious organizations in the country who want to split Iraq into three parts. I say again: this opinion has nothing to do with IS because they want to build a big country called Islamic State.

- Speaking about the attempts to change the borders and acts of aggression, one has to mention the occupation of Azerbaijani territory by Armenia during the Karabakh conflict. How do you see this being resolved?

- In our opinion, this question must not be resolved by war. A settlement to this conflict must be achieved through dialogue and discussion between the two countries (Armenia and Azerbaijan - ed. note). This is important from the point of view of the adoption of UN decisions.

Besides this, the question concerns not just the two countries, but the whole region. The states of the region must intervene in this process and resolve the problem. It is not right to expect this only of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The countries of the region must put pressure on whichever side in the conflict is avoiding or sidestepping the path to a settlement.  The way forward is through peace talks. War solves nothing.

- How would you describe cultural relations between Azerbaijan and Iraq?

- Cultural relations between Azerbaijan and Iraq have still not been fully exposed. This is because Azerbaijan does not have an embassy in Iraq. If Baku opens an embassy in Baghdad we will be able to expand and develop our relations at both an official level and at the level of the peoples of the two countries. For example, Iraq's relations with other countries that have embassies in my country are growing at a rapid rate.

- Are there any projects in the cultural sphere which Baku and Baghdad plan to carry out?

- I have spoken to Iraq's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Haydar Shia al-Barrak, about this. In other words, we plan to use diplomatic channels to develop relations on cultural exchange and organize activities by our cultural representatives in Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan's in Iraq.

- There is an Egyptian Cultural Centre in Baku, which is the only Arabic cultural centre in Azerbaijan. Has Baghdad any plans to open a cultural centre in Baku?

- This is a matter for an Azerbaijani embassy in Baghdad. As I have already said, since there is no Azerbaijani embassy in Iraq, this question, along with other quite important ones, remains unrealized. But I would like to say that we can develop direct cooperation between the cultural ministers of our two countries. We can carry out specific projects. But any work on opening a cultural centre must be done by the embassy.