Türkiye ranks first on UNESCO Tentative List
YOZGAT
UNESCO Türkiye National Commission President Professor Öcal Oğuz said that Türkiye ranks first in the world on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
Organized by the UNESCO Turkish National Commission, the “UNESCO Sixth Intangible Cultural Heritage Winter School and the Transfer of Intangible Cultural Heritage Between Generations” program has started in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat.
Noting that Türkiye has 19 cultural heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List and 84 on the World Heritage Tentative List, Oğuz stated that Türkiye is the first in the world in the tentative list with this figure.
Yozgat Governor Ziya Polat, Yozgat Deputy Mayor Murat Tanışman, Provincial Director of National Education Yusuf Yazıcı,
Yozgat ORAN Development Agency Secretary-General Ahmet Emin Kilci and several teachers were among the participants at the event.
Stating that Türkiye has been the cradle of many civilizations, Oğuz said, “Our country has great richness in terms of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. As Anatolia is a great gateway to Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and to the north, in this respect, we have been the cradle of many civilizations for centuries. This is why we are so rich. But in terms of the convention on the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage accepted by UNESCO in 1972, and the convention on the protection of intangible cultural heritage adopted in 2003, our position does not match our richness. We became a party to the 1972 contract in 1983. Until this date, we had no action and no suggestions for the UNESCO lists. Even after 1983, we failed to use the rights and quotas that we had. For this reason, while the European countries that are smaller than us in terms of geography and have relatively lesser cultural richness than us have 50 to 60 places on the world heritage list, we have only 19. The majority of this has been included in the last 12 years. In this respect, we need to work harder and bring one more of our heritage to the international community in accordance with the quota and right granted to us every year.”
Oğuz noted that Türkiye ranks first in the world with 84 cultural heritages in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, adding: “There is a list called tentative list, which is a temporary list. We are the country with the most heritage artifacts in the world on this list, with 84. One of them is the Roman Bath in Sarıkaya. We hope that all of them will be included in the main list in 84 years, in case we can present each of them every year.”
Some of the country’s best-known places on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List include the İshakpaşa Palace, St. Nicholas Church, Karatepe-Aslantaş Archaeological Site, Archaeological Site of Priene, Zerzevan Castle, Archaeological Site of Assos, the ancient city of Kibyra, Akdamar Church, The Theater and Aqueducts of the Ancient City of Aspendos, Yıldız Palace Complex, Archeological Site of Zeugma, St. Pierre Church, Sümela Monastery, Güllük Dagi-Termessos National Park and Alanya.
