anadolu agency

The Turkish spring festival Hıdırellez has been added to the UNESCO list of “intangible cultural heritage,” the Culture Ministry has said.
In a statement, the ministry said the celebration had been added at a UNESCO meeting in South Korea.
Turkish communities around the world celebrate Hıdırellez on May 6 while Christians in the Balkans mark it as St. George’s day on April 23.
The roots of the celebration pre-date Islam or Christianity.
According to the Culture Ministry website, some theories say Hıdırellez has stemmed from Mesopotamian and Anatolian cultures while others claim its roots derive from the Turkic peoples of central Asia.
Across the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, different traditions and rituals have developed, many which are focused on bringing good luck with the arrival of spring.
While differing greatly from country to country, the event is often marked with the cleaning of homes and clothes, feasting or ceremonies held near open water or shrines.
Among the Roma community in Turkey’s northwestern province of Çanakkale, dancers in colorful clothing jump over bonfires for good health.
UNESCO has listed at least 14 cultural practices found in Turkey, according to the ministry. These include the Mevlana whirling dervishes, the Karagöz and Hacivat shadow plays, oil-wrestling in Kırkpınar and Turkish coffee.
On Dec. 6, UNESCO listed whistled language, also known as “bird language,” from Turkey’s northern Black Sea region as in urgent need of safeguarding.

Three more Turkish sites enter UNESCO’s temporary list

Three more Turkish sites have been included in UNESCO’s tentative list of world heritage, bringing the total number of Turkish properties on the list up to 72, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism stated on May 6.

The archaeological site of Assos in northwestern Çanakkale province, Ayvalık industrial landscape in northwestern province of Balıkesir and Ivriz cultural landscape in central Konya were placed on the tentative list on April 15, according to a statement issued by the ministry.      

Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı said Turkey had a total of 16 assets on the World Heritage List, ranking 17th among all countries in the world.      

The minister said the 41st World Heritage Committee session would be held in the Polish city of Krakow in July, during which the committee would consider including the archaeological site of Aphrodisias in western province of Aydın in the World Heritage List, after having been on the tentative list since February 2009.      

The application for the archaeological site of Göbeklitepe in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, which has been on the tentative list since April 2011, will be up for discussion in the 2018 meeting, Avci said, adding that the ministry believes the two sites will be inscribed in the list.

May/07/2017  HDN

Göbeklitepe to soon enter UNESCO list

The ancient site of Göbeklitepe, one of the world’s most important archaeological sites boasting a history of 12,000 years, is set to soon graduate from UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites to the permanent list.

Located in Örencik, 18 kilometers from the center of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, Göbeklitepe was first discovered in 1963 during surface surveys carried out by researchers from the universities of Istanbul and Chicago.

Since 1995, the Şanlıurfa Museum and the German Archaeology Institute have been collaborating on the excavations.

Researchers have discovered 3- to 6-meter-long T-shaped steles weighing between 40 and 60 tons, the ruins of the world’s oldest temple, a large number of wild animal figures, human sculptures and a nearly 65-centimeter-long human sculpture from 12,000 years ago.

Many organizations, including the Culture and Tourism Ministry, have been conducting various projects for the promotion of Göbeklitepe.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gobeklitepe-to-soon-enter-unesco-list.aspx?pageID=238&nID=106917&NewsCatID=375

Rize’s local poet named a ‘living human treasure’

Osman Efendioğlu, a local poet living in Turkey’s Black Sea province of Rize, has been selected as a Living Human Treasure by UNESCO. 

The 80-year-old Efendioğlu says he knows 90 percent of “atma türkü” (a type of public poetry unique to the eastern Black Sea region) spoken in Rize and is working to collect all this poetry in a book. 

“The term ‘atma türkü’ means the art of simile. I have contributed to many public poets transferring this culture to the next generation. While doing this, I got great support from Rize governors,” he said during a visit to the provincial Culture and Tourism Director İsmail Hocaoğlu and Rize Governor Erdoğan Bektaş. 

“When you perform, you do it properly and educate students to adopt this culture of ours. You also make a contribution to Rize’s promotion. Collecting your repertoire in a book is a great service for our culture,” Bektaş said.

Speaking after the meeting, Efendioğlu said he first got interested in poetry when he was 10 had therefore been a poet for 70 years. 

“‘Atma türkü’ is an important cultural value and its center is Rize. I know around 200 old poems by heart. I don’t even know the number of poems that I have composed,” he said, describing his recognition as a “Living Human Treasure” by UNESCO as an “honor.”

October/30/2016  HDN

le site d'ANI inscrit sur la liste du patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO

Réuni à Istanbul du 10 au 20 juillet dernier, pour sa 40ème session, le Comité du patrimoine mondial a examiné les propositions d’inscription de 27 sites sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO.

Le site archéologique d’Ani fait partie des 5 nouveaux inscrits sur la liste du patrimoine mondial.

Le site est situé au nord-est de la Turquie sur un plateau isolé, en surplomb d’un ravin constituant une frontière naturelle avec l’Arménie.

 

http://www.turquie-news.com/rubriques/culture/39950-le-site-archeologique-d-ani.html
 

 

13 new sites added to UNESCO list

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s 40th session held in Istanbul has concluded with some 15 properties being evaluated and 13 of them registered to the World Heritage List, including the Turkish archeological site of Ani located in the eastern province of Kars, near the Armenian border. 

“As of now a total of 15 properties were evaluated and 13 of these were registered in the World Heritage List. I want to express that we have been extremely happy [to be] part of this [and] that our Seven-Doored City of Ani archeological site has been registered to the World Heritage List. With this opportunity, I want to deliver my thanks sincerely to UNESCO, committee members, the World Heritage Center and ICOMOS [the International Council on Monuments and Sites],” said Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı, as he delivered a speech at the closing ceremony of the session.  

UNESCO’s 40th session was held in Istanbul with the attendance of some 108 member countries, consulting organs, guests of the host country, media members and NGO representatives.

July/18/2016