Events in Iraq inflicted irreparable damage on world culture

24.04.2003

ALMATY. April 24 (Interfax-Kazakhstan) - The war in Iraq and its consequences have inflicted irreparable damage on the world's cultural heritage, Russian Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi said at the 2nd Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty on Thursday.

"When the military operation began, Russia warned of the danger to cultural heritage, but what has really happened is worse than I could have expected," Shvydkoi said.

"We feared that some stray missile might have destroyed a Mesopotamian cuneiform text or Assyrian-Babylonian writings, but the worst possible thing happened, and this was done by mad people who have lost belief in their sense of existence," he said.

The Russian culture minister also said he hopes the members of the press, including those taking part in the Eurasian Media Forum, will analyze the events in Iraq and their consequences.

Source: Russian culture minister, Interfax

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