On December 4-9, 2017 at the 12th session of Intergovernmental committee of UNESCO on protection of the non-material cultural heritage which is carried out on Jeju Island in South Korea the “Tradition of cooking and serving the dolma which is a part of cultural identity”, presented by Azerbaijan has been included in the Representative list of cultural heritage.
On December 6, the UNESCO Evaluation Authority announced a decision on the nomination file, which received a positive response on all criteria.
It should be noted that the above nomination document was presented jointly with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Azerbaijan to UNESCO. Despite the positive opinion of the Assessment Body, the Armenian side used the Committee’s Membership for its provocative purposes during the discussion and opposed this document. However, as a result of the efforts of the Azerbaijani delegation and the constructive position of other members of the committee, no interference was allowed in the document.
Speaking on behalf of the Delegation of Azerbaijan, Permanent Representative of our country to UNESCO, Ambassador Anar Kerimov noted that the tradition of cooking and serving dolma is one of the main symbols of a culture of hospitality, friendship, kindness that covers a wider territory than the geographical borders of our country, and also is a model of cultural belonging, passed on from generation to generation for centuries.
On behalf of the Azerbaijani government, he thanked the UNESCO Evaluation Authority and the Committee for supporting this sample of our cuisine as the cultural value of our people.
The ambassador also noted that Armenia abused its membership in the Committee, as always, and continued to carry out its ugly political game, as well as making unreasonable demands and pursuing the occupation policy in the field of culture. Nevertheless, the Ambassador welcomed the adoption a fair decision on this nomination by the Committee. In response to an unreasonable protest of the Armenian side concerning references to the Karabakh region of our country, the ambassador Anar Kerimov has categorically emphasized that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan can’t be called into question in the course of any international platform, including UNESCO, and in this regard he has noted four resolutions of the UN Security Council. Therefore, references to the Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan should not be questioned in any of the nominations. With the support of the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO Ms. Mehriban Aliyeva, who plays an exclusive role in developing cooperation with UNESCO and contributing to our cultural heritage throughout the world, in addition to the traditions of cooking and serving of dolma, the performance of the Azerbaijan Mugham, the tradition of cooking and using lavash, the copper art of Lahij, the Ashug art, the Novruz holiday, the art of carpets, art of execution on Tar, the art of making Kelagai, as well as the Chovgan-Karabakh traditional horse game, are included in the list of Representative office of UNESCO on non-material cultural heritage which need urgent protection.
