IRAQ MUSEUMS REPAIR & A MONUMENT HONORING ALEXANDER FROM THE GREEKS

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and his Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyannis held a press conference after their meeting in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. Bakoyannis said Greece has agreed to provide technical and financial aid to repair and reorganize Iraqi museums and cultural sites damaged and looted during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said Greece and Iraq have also agreed to build a monument honoring the Greek warrior Alexander the Great at an ancient battlefield in southern Iraq. Zebari welcomed the Greek offer of cultural assistance, which he said followed an Iraqi request.

Zebari said the battlefield monument would underline the interaction of civilizations in the region. It will be built near the city of Mosul, where Alexander won a crushing victory over a Persian army in 331 B.C. At the time, Iraq was part of the Persian Empire, which stretched throughout most of the Middle East.