On Sunday 9 February 2025, the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, through the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Culture and Youth Ministry, addressed the Duhok Governorate Public Prosecutor’s Office to adjudicate the issue of the Lexus Car Company’s encroachment on the sanctity of an archaeological site within its jurisdiction.
The Directorate’s move toward the Public Prosecutor came after the Lexus Car Company displayed an advertisement depicting one of its cars parked atop the ruins of the Assyrian aqueduct at Jerwana, which is administratively located within the borders of Sheikhan District and is an archaeological reserve affiliated with the Region’s Municipalities and Tourism Ministry.
The Directorate’s Syriac Heritage and Museum Director Bernard Youssef confirmed that, “the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts has moved against those concerned in this matter, and has made several contacts with the Region’s General Directorate of Antiquities, Duhok’s Antiquities Directorate, the Institute for the Conservation of Iraqi Heritage and Antiquities located in Erbil, and a number of government and parliamentary officials.”
Youssef added that, “Indeed, the Duhok Antiquities Directorate has thankfully moved to perform its legal duty by filing a legal complaint with the Public Prosecutor and also in the Sheikhan District Court,” noting, “In our belief in working together to protect our ancestors’ heritage and history, which is considered a cultural, human and national legacy, and through the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, the legal aspects were investigated in order to file an official complaint with the Public Prosecutor.”
The Syriac Heritage and Museum Director stated that, “after receiving legal advice from the Legal Department of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Culture Ministry, an official letter was sent containing a legal complaint against the aggressors on the village of Jerwana’s antiquities according to the relevant antiquities protection laws.”
Youssef concluded his statement by saying that, “our complaint to the Public Prosecutor in Duhok came due to the encroachment on the heritage of an indigenous people in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, and because we are the party concerned with preserving our people’s heritage, and the Region’s General Directorate of Antiquities, through the Duhok Antiquities Directorate, has filed another legal complaint due to the company’s encroachment on archaeological sites and photographing them, which is a violation of the laws in force.”
It is worth noting that the Jerwana aqueduct archaeological site dates back to 690 BC, during the reign of Assyrian King Sennacherib, and is located in Duhok Governorate’s Sheikhan District.