Iraq announces reward for anyone who hands over artifacts to government
An Assyrian artifact displayed at the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad, Iraq. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities, Hassan Nazim, announced on Tuesday a reward for anyone hands over artifacts to the ministry.
Nazim stated that Iraq recovered more than 17 thousand artifacts from the United States, and 300 artifacts from Lebanon, according the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
“We are planning to recover artifacts from London and Japan,” Nazim said.
The minister indicated that the Iraqi government is recovering scattered artifacts from different places all the time.
In an attempt to motivate citizens to hand over artifacts to the government, the minister announced that there will be a financial reward for those who hand over artifacts to the ministry.
In regards to tourism, Nazim emphasized the need to separate tourism and antiquities from culture, and to have a separate ministry concerned with tourism and antiquities.
Nazim also indicated that the number of tourists visiting archaeological sites is very few, and might be limited to researchers and artifact excavators.