Iraq’s Chargé d’Affaires in Ukraine, Tarek Adil Kazem, has presented the Code of the Nation museum near Kyiv with “Taras Shevchenko. A Legendary Figure”, a book compiled in Arabic by Iraqi lecturer Abbas Aziz Ali. The Embassy of the Republic of Iraq in Ukraine reported the gift.
The diplomat visited the museum, which is devoted to Ukraine’s national poet, on 14 October together with the heads of other foreign missions and international organisations. The tour was led by the museum’s founder, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who used Shevchenko’s life and work to tell guests about Ukrainian history, culture and identity. The event was initiated by the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Ukraine with the support of Ukraine’s Directorate-General for Servicing Foreign Missions.
According to the embassy, the gift is meant to symbolise friendship between Iraq and Ukraine and strengthen cultural ties between the two peoples.
Background
Shevchenko has a long history in the Arab world. The first Arabic translations of his poems were made in the 20th century by Lebanese writer Mikhail Naimy, who studied in Poltava and called Ukraine his second homeland. In 2025 it emerged that the first full Arabic edition of Shevchenko’s “Kobzar”, translated by Lebanese writer Imadeddin Raef, was being prepared in Beirut, Gwara Media reported.
