By By Paul Iddon Oct 28, 2014 in World The director of UNESCO has dubbed the intentional destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage "cultural cleansing." A bland and imperfect, but necessary and welcome, name for a very real and, sadly, recurring trend. She also pointed out that this shrines destruction "is not an isolated case. Over the past months, we have witnessed similar attacks on historical buildings, in particular mosques, churches and shrines." Upon hearing this news and Bokova's statements, one was once again reminded of the horrific bombing of the al-Askari mosque in Samarra by the al-Qaeda in Iraq group back in 2006. Its beautiful golden dome was brought down by that horrific bombing and was only restored relatively recently. That act of "cultural cleansing," as Bokova calls it, served to further already boiling sectarian tensions in Iraq and led on to that dark period many call Iraq's civil war. Al-Askari was of course targeted due to the fact it was a Shia Islamic shrine. Groups like al-Qaeda and the self-styled Islamic State group, which is killing and enslaving all of those it can reach who it disproves of, also has a track record of demolishing architecture it finds distasteful. From Afghanistan (where Buddha statues were intentionally demolished by the Taliban in 2001) to Mali (where Sufi shrines in Timbuktu were targeted by al-Qaeda affiliates last year) such groups have pillaged, looted and ruined Iraq has "The persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, combined with the systematic destruction of some of the most iconic representations of Iraq's rich and diverse heritage, testifies to an ideology of hatred and exclusion." Many of the more notable of these sites, of which UNESCO have declared to be world heritage sites, are situated near the parts of Iraq where Islamic State fighters have seized territory. A very worrying situation. One hopes the resolve of the international community sees to it that IS are not able to destroy any more. "Cultural cleansing" may not be a perfect term for it. The usage of "cleansing" brings to mind the commonplace term, and often used, "ethnic cleansing". A term which isn't necessarily perfect neither, far from it when you remind yourself that "race-murder" was the term used to describe what we refer to as "ethnic cleansing". Which of those sounds much softer and far less stinging, not to mention to the point, to your ear? Nevertheless Bokova deserves credit for giving a name to this problem. And since one has no real alternative suggestions ('culturicide' anyone?) now that it this nasty phenomenon has a name, of sorts, thanks to Bokova, it may prove to be just that bit harder to leave unaddressed. While of course IS's persecution of essentially anyone who disagrees with their obscurantist creed (remember IS kill Sunni Muslims of whom they claim to represent as readily as they butcher minority groups like the Yazidis) should be given foremost priority in the broader scheme of things it should not escape the worlds attention that very valuable sites to human civilization and culture are under threat. Turning a blind eye to their destruction would be a mild acquiescence to IS's attempt to topple standing testaments to that age-old thing we call human civilization. Irina Bokova is the name of UNESCO's current director and she used the term "cultural cleansing" in reference to the latest sectarian-motivated attack on another piece of Iraqi architecture. This time it was the Imam Dur Shrine. A site built 900 years ago, which Bokova rightfully hailed as being a valuable one given the fact it was a preserved example of what 11th century Islamic architecture was like.She also pointed out that this shrines destruction "is not an isolated case. Over the past months, we have witnessed similar attacks on historical buildings, in particular mosques, churches and shrines."Upon hearing this news and Bokova's statements, one was once again reminded of the horrific bombing of the al-Askari mosque in Samarra by the al-Qaeda in Iraq group back in 2006. Its beautiful golden dome was brought down by that horrific bombing and was only restored relatively recently. That act of "cultural cleansing," as Bokova calls it, served to further already boiling sectarian tensions in Iraq and led on to that dark period many call Iraq's civil war.Al-Askari was of course targeted due to the fact it was a Shia Islamic shrine. Groups like al-Qaeda and the self-styled Islamic State group, which is killing and enslaving all of those it can reach who it disproves of, also has a track record of demolishing architecture it finds distasteful. From Afghanistan (where Buddha statues were intentionally demolished by the Taliban in 2001) to Mali (where Sufi shrines in Timbuktu were targeted by al-Qaeda affiliates last year) such groups have pillaged, looted and ruined sites of great cultural importance and significance. And Iraq is no exception. When the aforementioned Islamic State group seized control of Iraq's second city of Mosul last June it captured the purported tomb of the Biblical prophet Jonah and intentionally demolished it.Iraq has an immensely rich assortment of architectural jewels which are literally thousands of years old. Heritage sites in Iraq are home to ancient and valuable artifacts which are quite literally artifacts of our human civilization as a whole. Bokova acknowledges this and rightfully dubs Iraq's heritage "a heritage for mankind" and is accordingly repulsed by such heinous crimes by groups like IS. She says that it must stop and summed up the situation perfectly when she declared the following,Many of the more notable of these sites, of which UNESCO have declared to be world heritage sites, are situated near the parts of Iraq where Islamic State fighters have seized territory. A very worrying situation. One hopes the resolve of the international community sees to it that IS are not able to destroy any more."Cultural cleansing" may not be a perfect term for it. The usage of "cleansing" brings to mind the commonplace term, and often used, "ethnic cleansing". A term which isn't necessarily perfect neither, far from it when you remind yourself that "race-murder" was the term used to describe what we refer to as "ethnic cleansing". Which of those sounds much softer and far less stinging, not to mention to the point, to your ear?Nevertheless Bokova deserves credit for giving a name to this problem. And since one has no real alternative suggestions ('culturicide' anyone?) now that it this nasty phenomenon has a name, of sorts, thanks to Bokova, it may prove to be just that bit harder to leave unaddressed.While of course IS's persecution of essentially anyone who disagrees with their obscurantist creed (remember IS kill Sunni Muslims of whom they claim to represent as readily as they butcher minority groups like the Yazidis) should be given foremost priority in the broader scheme of things it should not escape the worlds attention that very valuable sites to human civilization and culture are under threat. Turning a blind eye to their destruction would be a mild acquiescence to IS's attempt to topple standing testaments to that age-old thing we call human civilization. This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com More about Unesco, Iraq, Isis, Culture More news from Unesco Iraq Isis Culture