Dear Ms. Bokova,

    this is with reference to Dr. Lebeau's e-mail on the subject "About a recent colloquium in Damascus" sent to you on December 19, to which he attached a statement that he had posted on the APSA website.

    The statement was written without knowledge of the facts, and from a position that explicitly undermines the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria (DGAMS). To wit:

    (1) There was no presence of "dignitaries" at the Colloquium, nor was there any effort whatsoever at giving it a "propaganda value" or producing a "propaganda victory."

    (2) The "compromise and ignominy" of which Dr. Lebeau accuses us and the colleagues who attended the colloquium lies instead in his proposing what amounts to cultural sanctions against the DGAMS. These sanctions would further isolate, nationally and internationally, the DGAMS in its effort at defending Syria's antiquities, an effort that is instead a model of how a country should combat the wholesale attack on its patrimony. We are proud of supporting this effort and the DGAMS as a whole, instead of undermining it, as Dr. Lebeau's statement does.

    (3) The nature and quality of every single paper presented at the Colloquium, by Syrian and foreign colleagues, was of the highest professional quality, without the slightest political overtone.

    (4) The DGAMS is the only body with which UNESCO entertains official relationships and we are fully in line with this position and with the actions taken by UNESCO, particularly by convoking several meetings in which the DGAMS was a major interlocutor. Our attendance at the conference hosted by the DGAMS was in support of the scholars, colleagues and civil servants who tirelessly do their jobs in an extremely difficult situation – in line with the Hague Convention.

    On the basis of these facts, we roundly reject the serious accusation, which Dr. Lebeau levies against us, of a "shameful and objectionable behavior" along with a "severe and unforgivable attenuation of all recognized ethical and moral standards." And we wish to point out that Dr. Khaled Asaad, whom we knew personally and who is rightly hailed the world over as a martyr for his brutal assassination in Palmyra, along with fifteen more functionaries of the DGAMS who have also been killed in the line of duty, would have been not in Brussels, but in Damascus with us.

    Please find attached a set of statements that we have gathered in answer to Dr. Lebeau's APSA posting: this will give you more details on this issue.

With all best wishes,

Giorgio Buccellati
Paolo Matthiae