By Mete Erdurcan and Baron Henri Estramant.
Positive news hailing from Iraq, the National Museum in Baghdad was reopened twelve years after its looting on 1 March 2015.
The Government has stated that this is a response to the shocking video that was posted online by ISIL. The video shows fighters from ISIL smashing statues that are deemed to have a rather significant historical value. The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has vowed to punish the ones that are guilty of these atrocities.
The inventory of the museum is comprised of antiquities that have been looted, but have now been recovered and restored. The Iraqi museum estimates that around 15.000 items were taken following the days of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. At this moment one-third of these items have been retrieved and are in the museum’s hands. Some artifacts date back 7.000 years in history, going back to Mesopotamia, which is often called the “Cradle of Civilisation”.
Deputy Tourism and Antiquities Minister, Qais bin Hussein Rashid stated that the “museum should be open to everyone”.
