Türkiye's tea culture makes it to the UNESCO heritage list

The tradition of telling Nasreddin Hodja anecdotes and Turkish tea culture have been added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.

 Traditional "Ahlat stonemasonry" and silk weaving were also added to the list, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The 17th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is being held in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, will continue till Friday, the statement said.

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Türkiye's Permanent Representative to UNESCO Ambassador Gulnur Aybet told Anadolu Agency that Türkiye attended the meeting with a total of four files, three of which are multinational.

Aybet reminded that Türkiye's "traditional Ahlat stonemasonry" was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List Requiring Urgent Protection on Tuesday.

She said the delegations of Türkiye and Azerbaijan will jointly open a tea stand during the committee meeting, which will continue until tomorrow.

Aybet said Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Afghanistan jointly submitted the file on "silk weaving" that was included in the list.

She thanked the Turkish Ministry of Culture, saying: "They did great work during the preparation of the file.'

Noting that the "number of our cultural elements inscribed on the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage has reached 23," Türkiye vowed to "decisively continue to preserve, cherish and promote our rich cultural values inherited from our deep-rooted history."

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