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The experience of the Iraq National Library and Archives in dealing with the issue of the Ottoman Records shows that human errors and bad judgment can lead to a cultural disaster.  

The tale begins with an academic seminar held at the Iraq National Library and Archives (INLA) in the late 1980s. At the Seminar, a number of university lecturers and private scholars gave various presentations. In their distinctive presentations, Dr. Emad Abdul Salam, a history lecturer at the University of Baghdad, and Butros Haddad, a private scholar, called upon the INLA's archivists to collect all Ottoman Records from Iraqi courts in Baghdad and the provinces. They asserted that these historically and legally key records were in real danger of being lost permanently because of years of neglect.

Immediately after the end of the Seminar, the INLA set up a special committee that was entrusted with the task of collecting these Ottoman Records from  the various Iraqi courts. The declared objective was to save and document these records for future generations.  And by this means, Iraqi scholars would be given a real opportunity to gain direct access to these records for the first time to further their academic research.  The committee first established direct contacts with the officials of the Ministry of Justice, who in turn expressed their willingness to help the INLA's archivist with their efforts insofar as collecting the Ottoman Records were concerned. Following the completion of the process of transferring all the Ottoman Records from Baghdad's main courts to the INLA's archival storage, a group of the INLA's archivists then headed to Mosul in the north, where they began to collect and transfer the Ottoman Records from its main court to Baghdad.  At the same time, a number of Ottoman Records were also transferred from Basra in the south, to the INLA. One of the northern provinces, Kirkuk, decided to keep its Ottoman Records, and refused to transfer them to Baghdad. It turned out that they made the right decision, given the tragic events of mid-April 2003, when most Iraqi cultural and educational institutions were looted or badly damaged.   

In the end, the INLA's archivists succeeded in building a collection totaling 1250 Ottoman Records. The oldest Ottoman Record went back to the mid-sixteenth century, the period that witnessed the Ottoman Forces' occupation of the historical city of Baghdad.

All the Records were hand-written books. Their papers were all hand-made. The vast majority was written in an old Turkish alphabet; the remaining books were written in Arabic. The styles of the hand-writing were also different from one book to another. Some books were written beautifully, while some others were not.  Variety of inks
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[1]  I am in debt to Mr. Kamel Jwad Ashur (Deputy Director of the INLA) and Mr. Mazen Ibrahim (the Head of the Restoration and Preservation Department at the INLA), who provided me with many useful information

and colours were used in compiling the books. Each book comprised 40 - 50 pages. Different techniques were also employed in binding the books. The books did not have similar dimensions:

1-     length from 41 cm to 48 cm

2-     width from 15 cm to 23 cm

3-     thickness from 2 cm to 2.5 cm

The books covered various subjects, particularly:

1-     Wills

2-     Litigation

3-     Notices

4-     Permits

5-     Written Acts

6-     Notifications

7-     Summoning

8-     Real estate

9-     Authorisations

10- Marriage Deeds

The judges numerated the subjects and the pages of their books. To protect them from damage and theft, the Ottoman judges used to hide their books inside their sleeves when they were on the move. This shows how much these judges were dedicated professionals.     

The archivists classified the Records according to their subjects and historical periods; however no thorough inventory was made of all the Records that were collected.  And, to my surprise, no microfilm copies were made of the Records, even though the INLA had a fully-equipped micrographic department.

The collection was made accessible for the first time to private scholars and university students, who began to use them in their historical and legal research. Ordinary citizens were also able to make copies of the original records, after obtaining special permission from the State's courts.  The INLA stamped the copies to prove their authenticity. It should be stated that during the 1970s, the INLA had directly received some Ottoman Records and Documents from Basra and Mosul. These records and documents were in the form of official decrees (Farmans) and property rights (Tabu).

The decision to collect the Ottoman Records was a terrible mistake on two counts.  First, the decision was taken in a rushed manner, without full and serious consideration of the pertinent technical issues:  the INLA had neither the qualified experts nor the right storage areas.  Second, the process of transferring the Records from the various courts to the INLA was carried out in an unprofessional way: neither the courts nor the INLA made a full inventory of the Records.

Just a few weeks before the outbreak of the hostilities in March 2003, the Ministry of Culture decided to relocate a large portion of the INLA's library and archival collections, including the Ottoman Records, to the basement of the State Board of Tourism located on the other side of the Tigris River, one kilometer away from the INLA's main building. This decision to relocate a portion of the INLA's collection was a very grave mistake. The State Board of Tourism was well known for being the stronghold of the former regime's security agents; therefore INLA staff was not allowed to supervise or to visit the relocated collection. The basement itself was not suitable to be a storeroom for paper-based items, as it had many water-pipes, and was damp. The collection generally was not placed in suitable containers, and the Ottoman Records were simply piled up on several tables.  

Soon after the collapse of the Saddam regime, the INLA's main building was set on fire on 10^th and 12^th April 2003. Three groups were directly responsible for the looting and the destruction of the INLA. The first group consisted of opportunist looters, who carried with them equipment, tools and furniture. The second group included professional thieves, who made the most of the chaos of mid-April to raid the most precious part of the INLA's book and archival collections. The third group was the arsonists, who had close ties with the former regime. The cultural losses were enormous, and cannot be restored.

The relocated collections, including the Ottoman Records, were still intact at the end of April 2003. Unfortunately, the key archivists of the INLA made a crucial mistake. When interviewed by US cultural experts immediately after the looting and the destruction of mid-April, the archivists denied the existence of any relocated collection. They believed that the Americans might loot them, as they had looted the Iraqi Museum!  (The supporters of the former regime spread such rumors to cover their destructive activities).  

 A few weeks after the vicious attack against the INLA, the security agents of the former regime then looted and badly damaged the relocated collections inside the basement of the State Board of Tourism. After looting a portion of the relocated collections, the attackers broke the water pipes inside the basement. Their criminal action inflicted considerable damage on the remaining collection. Around 250 Books were badly damaged during the attack, whereas the rest of the Books were either looted or destroyed. [1] 

The tale of the Ottoman Records shows that the cultural losses of the INLA would have been minimized to a large extent, had its archivists told the US experts about the whereabouts of the relocated collections. The INLA's looted documents and records ended up being illicitly traded on the black market in Iraq's neighbouring countries, which talk - day and night - about protecting Iraqi cultural heritage from the Americans and their Allies.