Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA- Minister of Culture Issam Khalil said that the ministry had stepped up measures to protect the Syrian antiquities from theft and vandalism by the armed terrorist groups.
Minister Khalil added during a meeting with an Egyptian media delegation currently visiting Syria that resolution No. 2199 issued by the Security Council on protecting cultural heritage in Syria fell flat with regional and western countries as Turkish intelligence continues to rob and smuggle Syrian artifacts in coordination with ISIS terrorist organization.
The support which is supposed to be offered by international organizations to the Syrian competent authorities regarding antiquities is linked to the political directives of Western countries that control their decision-making which do not want any party to play a role in helping the Syrians to overcome the effects of the war, Khalil said.
Minister Khalil affirmed that the Ministry of Culture has all the documents that confirm Syria’s ownership of all the stolen and smuggled antiquities, adding that a committee was formed to restore the Syrian artifacts in museums or those in the possession of groups in some countries as part of a national effort to retrieve the properties of the Syrian people.
Minister Khalil called on the Arab nationalist forces particularly in Egypt to assume their role in raising the awareness of the Arab peoples.
For their part, the Egyptian delegation members hailed Syria’s cultural role that was manifest in its intellectuals and innovative figures on whom hope is pinned to get Syria out of its current ordeal.
The Egyptian media delegation comprises eight journalists and political writers working for Egyptian TV channels and newspapers.
Qabas/ Manal
