Aliyev works of art to Bremen

[Novocainchenko]

BAKU, Nov 17 (AFP) - Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev has
ordered that 14 works of art stolen during World War II be returned
to a gallery in Bremen, Germany, the government daily Baku Worker
reported Wednesday.
According to a presidential decree signed Tuesday, a Soviet war
veteran tried to sell the works, which bear the stamp of the Bremer
Kunsthalle, to Azerbaijan's National Museum in 1947, after which
they were confiscated.
Twelve of the paintings were stolen in 1993 but were later
recovered in Washington, where they remain, the decree said.
"Once its national independence was restored, Azerbaijan
intended to return these works to their rightful owners, the German
people," Aliyev wrote.
German Embassy officials in Baku said that the two paintings in
the National Museum, which included a work by Raphael, would be
handed over immediately, while the remaining 12 would return at a
later date.