The Destruction of Cultural Property as a Weapon of War

ISIS in Syria and Iraq

Helga Turku

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9783319572819
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319572826
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Civil Rights in Law
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book aims to advance the understanding of cultural property in armed conflict, and its significance for anti-terrorism and peace-building strategies. As the author argues, ISIS' orchestrated theft and destruction of cultural property has become a tactic of war. Through a historical, political, and legal analysis, this book explains the pathology of radical groups' behavior toward cultural objects as part of their terror campaign. Using constructivist ideas, it explains the importance of cultural property in the context of short-term and long-term security and analyzes the evolution of laws and policies to protect it.

© The Author(s) 2018

Helga TurkuThe Destruction of Cultural Property as a Weapon of Warhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57282-6_1

Begin Abstract

1. Cultural Property as a Weapon of War

Helga Turku¹

(1)

Washington DC, USA

At sunrise, far away in the distance, on top of one of group of low hills, I saw…Palmyra. …I wonder if the wide world presents a more singular landscape. It is a mass of columns, ranged into long avenues, grouped into temples, lying broken on the sand or pointing one long solitary finger to Heaven. Beyond them is the immense Temple of Baal; the modern town is built inside it and its rows of columns rise out of a mass of mud roofs. And beyond, all is the desert, sand and white stretches of salt and sand again, with the dust clouds whirling over it and the Euphrates 5 days away. It looks like the white skeleton of a town, standing knee deep in the blown sand.

Gertrude Bell, Letter to a friend, May 20, 1900.

End Abstract

Introduction

In May 2015, the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, the Islamic State, and Daesh). ¹ This city, also known as the City of Palms, was an important site on trade routes linking the Eastern Mediterranean to Asia. The architecture of this ancient site reflected the many cultures that shaped Palmyra, leaving an artistic legacy that merges Greco-roman and Persian influences with strong indigenous elements. Its carved sculptures, grand colonnaded street, and temples had survived countless wars and the ravages of time for over 2000 years. In the third century, Palmyra was also the home of Queen Zenobia, a powerful military and economic leader, who heroically stood up to the Roman Empire and nearly succeeded. ² In 1980, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared this ancient city a World Heritage Site. ³

When the city was captured, an ISIS commander in Palmyra said: “We will preserve [the ancient site of Palmyra] and it will not be harmed. …What we will do is break the idols that the infidels used to worship. …The historic buildings will not be touched and we will not bring bulldozers to destroy them like some people think.” ⁴ The opposite was true, as ISIS began a comprehensive campaign of destruction. ⁵ First, it captured the renowned 82-year-old Syrian archeologist Khaled al-Assad, who pioneered the excavation at Palmyra and had looked after it for 40 years. ⁶ When he refused to divulge information about the whereabouts of Palmyra’s treasures, ⁷ he was tortured and brutally murdered, and images of his decapitated body were made available on the Internet. ⁸ ISIS followed by blowing up the Temple of Baalshamin, ⁹ the Temple of Bel, ¹⁰ funerary towers in the Valley of Tombs, ¹¹ the ancient Roman Triumphal Arch, ¹² the Tetrapylon, ¹³ and parts of the Roman Theater. ¹⁴ These structures were a mix of ancient religious temples and secular monuments, which are not “idols,” but ISIS destroyed them nonetheless. In order to attract headlines, the ancient site was also used for executions and other acts of violence. ¹⁵ Similar attacks have been replicated throughout ISIS-held territory not only against ancient sites but also against mosques, churches, universities, and institutions associated with knowledge, diversity, and culture (Figs. 1.1 and 1.2).

Fig. 1.1

Palmyra’s grand colonnaded street and the Tetrapylon at the far end, Palmyra, Syria. 2010(Source: http://​www.​asor-syrianheritage.​org/​4290-2/​. Courtesy of ASOR CHI.Image © Michael D. Danti)

Fig. 1.2

The Valley of Tombs, Palmyra, Syria. On June 26, 2015, no visible damage to the tower tombs in Tadmor (left). On August 27, 2015, visible damage to the Tomb of Iamliku and the Tomb of the Banai family (center). On September 2, 2015, visible damage to the Tomb of Julius Aurelius Bolma and Tomb #71 (right)(Source: http://​www.​asor-syrianheritage.​org/​special-report-update-on-the-situation-in-palmyra/​. Courtesy of ASOR CHI. Satellite image © DigitalGlobe)

These destructive attacks on Iraq and Syria’s rich/diverse cultural heritage are only part of the story. In May 2015, United States (US) Special Operations Forces raided the Syrian compound of Abu Sayyaf, a top ISIS finance official who was known as the organization’s emir of gas and oil. ¹⁶ During the raid, American troops recovered evidence of looted sites as well as antiquities, confirming that ISIS was not only systematically destroying cultural property but also engaged in the looting and trafficking of antiquities. ¹⁷

Since ISIS took control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria 2014, ¹⁸ both destruction and looting of cultural property have been significant features of its warfare. Its actions have broadened both the use of cultural property during armed conflict and the international discussion on how to protect it. Though ISIS’ pervasive destruction and theft of cultural property are not a new phenomenon of war, its techniques reveal new pathologies in extremist behavior toward cultural property. First, the destruction is not a collateral effect of the armed conflict, but rather a well thought-out performance, with sophisticated means of image production. These acts are designed to be broadcast near and far, thus transmitting ISIS’ vision of hate. Second, ISIS has specifically targeted cultural property to dominate, break, and possibly erase “the other.” Attacking the other’s cultural property, and through it its history and memory, has profound consequences on group survival, because memory is the essence of any identity. It is this fundamentally important aspect of cultural property that has made it a primary target of ISIS in its conduct of war. Finally, the theft of cultural property from the world’s cradle of civilization is not only impoverishing the cultural heritage of Syria and Iraq, but also financing ISIS’ reign of horror. Although other actors in the region have actively looted historical sites to finance their battles, ISIS is unique because it has institutionalized such plunder and destruction. ¹⁹

Through a historical, political, and legal analysis, this book seeks to explain why cultural property has been a significant part of ISIS’ warfare in Iraq and Syria. Tracking the events of the past three years, this book highlights both the gravity of attacks on cultural property and the international community’s response to them and offers suggestions for future action. In discussing cultural property as a weapon of war, this book also reviews scholarship that considers cultural property a tool to build bridges between people. This book argues that protection of cultural property should be part of the short-term and long-term security agenda in conflict zones because history and culture are fundamental structures of identity and therefore important elements in national reconciliation narratives. Moreover, cultural rights are a critical part of human rights and should be included in the agenda for peace and security. Moreover, the destruction of cultural property is not just a loss for the region or a loss for humanity, but it is also a cause of continuing rootlessness and conflict.

The Importance of Cultural Property

Attacks on cultural property are attacks on people, identities, nations, and states. Although the nation is an abstract idea that fosters belonging, culture (and language) transforms abstraction into a reality as they are fundamental ingredients for its existence. ²⁰ That is, the “imagined” ²¹ political community (the nation) exists in part because of ethnic identities and symbols. ²² Although states and nations ²³ do not always overlap, states need a principled basis to rule, ²⁴ and thus some shared values—a sense of belonging, and a history exemplified through heritage—are necessary to transform a purely administrative entity into a state. Given that the society of states, ²⁵ which gives rise to international law, ²⁶ is based on the modern state, “preservation of the cultural identities of States—whether real or imagined...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• 1. Cultural Property as a Weapon of War
• 2. Cultural Property Destruction in History and in the Present
• 3. Long-Term Security Repercussions of Attacking Cultural Property
• 4. International Law on Protection of Cultural Property During Armed Conflict
• 5. International and State Response to Terrorists’ Attacks and Plunder of Cultural Property in War Zones
• 6. Future Action to Protect Cultural Property During Conflict
• Backmatter