4 more elements of Azerbaijan's intangible cultural heritage have been included in the UNESCO's list

At the 17^th session of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage held in the city of Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco, particularly significant decisions were made for our country.

4 more elements of Azerbaijan's intangible cultural heritage have been included in UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Among the elements submitted to the representative list at the 17^th session of the Intergovernmental Committee, were 1 national nomination "Pehlevanliq culture: traditional zorkhana games, sports and wrestling" as well as 3 multinational nominations "Sericulture and traditional production of silk for weaving" (Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), "Telling tradition of Molla Nesreddin Anecdotes" (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and "Culture of Çay (tea), a symbol of identity, hospitality and social interaction" (Azerbaijan and Türkiye).

At the session, a positive decision was made regarding each of these nominations.

The element "Sericulture and traditional production of silk for weaving" submitted jointly by Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan was included in the Representative List of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The aforementioned nomination document was submitted in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO and the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO, as well as the proper institutions of Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the session, Elman Abdullayev, the Permanent Delegate of our country to UNESCO, said that the art of cocooning, silk-making and weaving has ancient historical roots in Azerbaijani culture, and expressed his gratitude to Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for the support expressed in the joint submission of the nomination file.

In the 17^th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee, the nomination file "Pehlevanliq culture: traditional zorkhana games, sports and wrestling" submitted by Azerbaijan was included in the Representative List of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The decision on the nomination file, which received positive feedback on all criteria from UNESCO's Evaluation Body, was announced on December 1.

The above-mentioned nomination document was submitted in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO and the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO.

Then, Elman Abdullayev, speaking on behalf of the Delegation of our country, pointed out that the art of wrestling is an important part of Azerbaijani culture and said that this art has ancient historical roots.

At the same time, the Permanent Delegate expressed his gratitude to the UNESCO Evaluation Body and the Intergovernmental Committee on behalf of the Republic of Azerbaijan for supporting this example of the cultural value of our people.

Session participants watched a short video about wrestling and traditional zorkhana games in Azerbaijan.

During the session, the nomination "Telling tradition of Molla Nesreddin Anecdotes" jointly submitted by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan was included in the Representative List of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The multinational nomination file was submitted in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO and the Azerbaijan National Commission for UNESCO, as well as the relevant organs of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

In the session on December 1, the nomination "Culture of Çay (tea), a symbol of identity, hospitality and social interaction" jointly presented by Azerbaijan and Türkiye was included in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, receiving a positive opinion on all criteria by UNESCO's Evaluation Body.

The nomination document was submitted under the joint cooperation of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO, the National Commission of Azerbaijan for UNESCO and the relevant institutions of Türkiye.

Ambassador Elman Abdullayev, noted that the tea culture is an indicator of the hospitality of the Azerbaijani people, an important element of our culture, and thanked the UNESCO Evaluation Body and the Intergovernmental Committee.

It should be noted that our country is represented at the session by the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture, the National Commission for UNESCO and our embassy in the Kingdom of Morocco.

With the remarkable decisions taken at the current session of the Intergovernmental Committee, the number of examples of our intangible cultural heritage registered in UNESCO has reached 19.

17 of them were included in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and 2 were included in the "List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding". 11 of these elements were prepared and presented as national nominations by our country, and 8 as multinational nominations with the participation of Azerbaijan.

This achievement in Morocco is the next world-wide celebration of the ancient and modern cultural heritage of Azerbaijan.