HL Deb 23 January 1997 vol 577 c64WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will call the attention of their partners in the European Union, and of the United States, to the account given by the Kurdish scholar Dr. Nouri Talabany of the burning of his collection of more than 3,000 books and manuscripts in Arbil after the Kurdish Democratic Party took the city with the aid of Iraqi forces.

Lord Chesham

We were not aware of the event described. It appears to have been a highly regrettable act of vandalism. We have no plans to raise it in the EU or with the US.