Kaifi Mustafa: we have not been able to benefit from archaeological areas for tourism purposes

On Sunday, Dr. Kaifi Mustafa, Director-General of artifacts of the Kurdistan Region, announced that they have not been able to benefit from the archaeological areas for tourism purposes.

Mustafa told PUKmedia: "due to several reasons, we have not yet been able to benefit from the archaeological areas as required for tourism, one of the reasons is the lack of budget to deliver services to those areas and another reason, not allowing the private sector to manage these areas." 

"Additionally, the General Directorate of Archaeology has not been an independent institution and does not have the authority to issue decisions on some cases. For this reason, it would have been reasonable for the General Directorate of Archaeology and the Tourism Directorate to be independent institutions and directly affiliated with the Council of Ministers," He continued.

Regarding the number of archaeological areas in the Kurdistan Region, the Director-General of Antiquities said that they conducted only 40% of the archaeological surveys, and the number of archaeological sites is increasing.

"The total number that was registered reached five thousand and 300 archaeological areas," the Directorate added.

On April 10th, 2003, the first looters broke into the National Museum of Iraq. Staff had vacated two days earlier, ahead of the advance of US forces on Baghdad. The museum was effectively ransacked for the next 36 hours until employees returned.
 
While the staff - showing enormous bravery and foresight - had removed and safely stored 8,366 artifacts before the looting, some 15,000 objects, were stolen during that 36 hours. While 7,000 items have been retrieved, more than 8,000 remain unaccounted for, including artifacts thousands of years old from some of the earliest sites in the Middle East.



PUKmedia