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=> Why I admire Dr. (and I emphasize Ph.D) Donny George

Why I admire Dr. (and I emphasize Ph.D) Donny George
Posted by Jeff (Guest) - Saturday, March 4 2006, 16:05:18 (CET)
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A Zinda Interview with Dr. Donny George

The following is an interview conducted by Zinda Magazine with Dr. Donny George Youkhana, Director of Iraq's Antiquities and the Baghdad Museum. Dr. George is Assyrian and has been traveling extensively to bring greater recognition to the cultural devastation left behind after the looting of the Iraq's national museums in 2003. The interview was conducted by Mr. Ramin Daniels.
Dr. Donny George holding a precious Sumerian artifact which partially survived the looting in Baghdad.

Z: The looting of the museums after the initial chaos in Baghdad and Mosul has had a devastating effect on the cultural heritage of Iraq. What has been done since then?

DG: Really up to now we have estimated that 15,000 items were looted from the Iraq Museum. Most of them were looted from the store rooms and galleries left by the prior administration. The items recovered by the museum and are now at the museum are about 4000 items. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria all have recovered Iraqi artifacts. Up to now we have not been notified of what may have been confiscated or recovered by the Turkish and Iranian authorities. Some artifacts have been recovered by the European governments, Holland and Italy, and there are over 1,000 items confiscated by the US authorities at the New York customs. Not all of these items were looted from the Museum. Some have been dug up from archeological sites, especially in the southern part of the country. My estimate is that about 50% of the items looted from the Museum have been recovered, which is not so bad in a period of two years. We have regular contacts with our neighboring countries, directly or through Interpol or UNESCO, and connections with other countries to keep track of the recovery process.

Z: Is anyone carrying out any archaeological excavations in Iraq today?

DG: Because the security situation is bad, the excavation and restoration work being done is very restricted. We do not want to send our people to far off places, as we do not want to jeopardize their life and security. Yet we have some projects in Baghdad itself and also inside the museum, to prepare for the reopening of the museum, and we are keeping a low profile. So excavation and restoration activities have dropped significantly.

Z: Is the threat of the destruction of the city of Ashur still a plausible issue?

DG: Regarding the dam threatening the city of Ashur, this was not a dam in Turkey. It was a dam near the city of Beji in Iraq, which would have created a lake submerging two thirds of the city. And the other third would suffer from subterranean water due to this nearby lake. It turned out that Saddam had a castle above the city. Once when he was staying at this castle, he looked down at the river below and remarked that it would be nice to have a lake by the castle. His entourage then sent after the minister of irrigation who came and told Saddam, “we will do as you wish.” We later learned that the dam’s site was a soft soil area, and the lake at its prime level, could have washed away the sulfur mines that are in the area and poisoned the water. For these reasons, this dam project has now been cancelled and the city is no longer threatened. The city of Ashur is now on the World Monument list. During that time, I worked on getting the city of on the World’s Endangered Monument list while this dam project was in progress. Now UNESCO has informed us that the city of Ashur is no longer on the endangered list, only on the world monument list.

Z: With everyone concerned about reconstruction and security where do you find money for the museums and excavation works?

DG: Museum budget is within the budget of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. Whatever program we want we can work on. Our budget has been sufficient so far. We have submitted our request for next year’s budget. We have funds for the other projects too, such as excavation and restoration work in the whole country. For those we have around three billion Iraqi dinars. During the time of economic sanctions it was very difficult and we did not have much money. The money we received from the government was given to us to promote Saddam. We would not have enough money in our budget, then he would send us a directive to take this much money for a certain project. Thus we would be obligated to always mention his name, that he gave us so much money.

Z: Right after the looting of the museums, Zinda Magazine reported that the Assyrian film maker, Benny Atouri, pledged a donation of one and half million dollars to the Baghdad Museum. Was this money ever received by this museum?

DG: I have never heard anything about this person and his pledge. But there is one thing that you should know. Baghdad Museum Project has nothing to do with us. The person who has initiated this project, John Simmons, I met him once in Washington a year and half ago for half an hour only. I realized that this person as we say in Iraq is “Clouchy”. I heard from an Iraqi lady in Boston, who was on the board with him, is suing him now to remove her name from the board. I learned from her that he has so far raised 15 million dollars for the Iraqi Museum. But we have not received a cent from this money. We have nothing, no information from him, and he has not talked to us. When I met him in Washington he told me that I will make plans to come to visit you. Up until now, he has not contacted me, nor have we received a cent for Baghdad Museum projects. We are working with our minister to sue this person one way or another, because he is using our name and he has not given us any of this money. If people, like director Beni Atouri, want to donate, they can send directly to the Iraqi Museum, and we have a lot of people who send us their donations. Or they can send them to UNESCO. They can also do it through two people in the State Department, Maria Coropus or John Russell. I might add that UNESCO keeps 30% of the donations for its own projects, but the State Department, I believe, does not subtract from the funds. And we can provide them with budgetary plans for their donations.

Z: Are you planning to exhibit any pieces of the astonishing collection you hold in Baghdad and Mosul in Europe or North America?

DG: There is a company in Denmark called United Exhibit Group;they have been asking us for over a year to organize an exhibition of the Nimrod treasures. We realize that this is not the right time for such an exhibition. True, we have the authority to do these types of projects abroad. But this is not the time for it. Previously, these types of exhibitions were under the patronage of the UNESCO, but UNESCO is no longer involved in such projects. So we have postponed this. We are not ready for such an exhibition, neither the Iraqi cabinet nor the National Assembly are prepared to allow such exhibition to take place right now.

Z: Let's talk about the Assyrian politics for a little. You were asked to represent the Assyrian Church of the East in the initial talks toward the unity of all Christian groups and Syriac-speaking factions. What came out of those talks?

DG: Yes I was involved in the unity efforts, as I have always believed and supported efforts to bring our communities together. Getting together and sharing love and respect for each other is very important. So I participated in these efforts, but unfortunately, due to my busy schedule; I travel abroad frequently and when I am back home, I have to work long hours so I was often unable to be at their meetings.

Z: Are you involved in other efforts that directly benefit our Assyrian population in Iraq?

DG: I have recently become a member of the Department of the Syriac Literature in the Iraqi Science Academy. They have organized three departments, Arabic, Kurdish, and Syriac. We meet on a monthly basis and we have very capable people there. I am honored to be working with them.

Z: You have gained a great deal of respect among the Assyrians in Iraq and international recognition for your role before and after the fall of Saddam as the head of the Dept of Antiquities. Do you forsee a political future for yourself in Iraq?

8. Thank you for this question. I always believe that whatever I do is my duty as an Assyrian and as an Iraqi. I fight for the protection of Islamic antiquities. Sometimes my Muslim colleagues tell me, “you are a Christian and you care more than us.” I tell them, “no, I am an Iraqi and these all belong to Iraq and Iraqi people.” But I personally do not like to get involved in politics. For the last elections, Rabi Yonadam called me and asked me. I told him that whatever is for the benefit of my nation, I am prepared. We talked a lot, and we reached the conclusion that we have a lot of capable Assyrians to run for office. My position in the Department of the Antiquities is more important for now, and we decided that I should focus on my current responsibilities as I already am the deputy minister of Tourism and Antiquities which is a newly established ministry.



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