(29 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy – 29 January 2025
1. Various of Iraqi artifacts on table
2. Wide of (from left) Commander of the Monza Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, Michele Minetti, Iraq’s Ambassador to Italy, Saywan Sabir Mustafa Barzani, Deputy Military Attache, Colonel Ali Ahmed Amoori, Chief Marshal, Pasquale De Palo, at table displaying artifacts
3. Mid of Barzani and Minetti speaking
4. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Michele Minetti, commander of the Monza Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit:
“These are five archaeological finds dated before 2000 BC. There are four cones and a terracotta tablet. The tablet is essentially an administrative act containing the indications of some prisoners. The cones, on the other hand, are commemorative structures that remember the builders of the various temples where they were placed.”
5. Tilt up from artifacts to Barzani
6. Pan right of artifacts
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Saywan Sabir Mustafa Barzani, Iraq’s Ambassador to Italy:
“There are thousands of archaeological finds stolen mainly in 2003. The Embassy found these five in an auction house that had put them up for sale and we contacted the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit and they brought them back to us, after a few years of investigation. Even today we found another auction house that was selling an archaeological find.”
8. Various of Barzani holding metal vase
9. Close of vase
10. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Saywan Sabir Mustafa Barzani, Iraq’s Ambassador to Italy:
“The majority (of the finds) are Sumerian, but there is this metal vase that belongs to the Yazidis community, the Italians know the Three Wise Men, it is this community that exists in Kurdistan. They are Kurds from the north, they call them Yazidis and they have suffered genocide by ISIS terrorists who have entered Iraq. It was important to find it (the vase). It’s not that old, maybe 250 years old, but it has an important value for a community that suffered a genocide in 2014-15 by international terrorists who occupied their area. So sending back this find is an important thing for this community.”
11. Wide of table with artifacts of display
STORYLINE:
Iraqi artifacts seized in Italy after being stolen by illegal traffickers were returned to Iraqi authorities on Wednesday.
The ancient items were presented at a ceremony in Rome attended by police officials and Iraq’s Ambassador to Italy.
Among the artifacts retrieved by Italian authorities were four terracotta cones with royal inscriptions commemorating the workers who constructed ancient temples and a cuneiform tablet containing a list of prisoners, Michele Minetti, commander of the Monza Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit, said.
All five dated back to before 2000 BC, Minetti added.
Officials said investigations started into retrieving the artifacts after the Iraqi embassy in Italy reported the items had been seen for sale at an auction house in Milan.
After the 1991 Gulf War and the chaos that followed the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq’s National Museum was looted and thousands priceless relics went missing leading to the loss of valuable museum collections. Most of the missing items were accounted for.
Investigations by the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit established the authenticity of the archaeological finds and recognising them as illegally exported from Iraqi territory.
In recent years, about 19 stolen Iraqi artifacts have been returned to the Iraqi embassy in Italy by the Cultural Heritage unit.
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