Ankara announced on Wednesday that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has included four Turkish cultural elements on its lists of intangible cultural heritage.
This came in a statement by the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, on social media, in which he explained that Turkey has become the second country to register the largest number of cultural elements on UNESCO lists after China.
Ersoy said that the meeting of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the city of Kasane in the Republic of Botswana discussed 4 Turkish cultural elements today and decided to include them on its lists.
He congratulated the Minister on the decision to include four living heritage elements of Turkey, namely “the craftsmanship and performance of the mei/balaban musical instrument,” “the social and cultural traditions related to breakfast,” “the art of mother-of-pearl inlay,” and “the art of gilding,” to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
He stated that Turkey has become the second country to register the largest number of cultural elements on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, as its listed cultural elements have reached 30, while China tops the list with 43 cultural elements.