In the cultural program of February, one of the notable events will be a seminar dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UNESCO Convention for the protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The event, which is scheduled to be held on February 10th at the State Academy of Arts, will be one of the first cultural events in the framework of the upcoming 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan's membership in UNESCO this year. As is known, at the November meeting of the delegation of Turkmenistan with the Deputy Director General of UNESCO for Culture, Mr. Ernesto Ramirez at the headquarters of the Organization in Paris, the parties agreed to widely celebrate this significant date with a number of celebrations, cultural events and other events.
The Convention for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted on October 17, 2003 by the General Conference of UNESCO, taking into account the importance of intangible cultural heritage as a factor in ensuring cultural diversity and guaranteeing sustainable development. It is complementary to the UNESCO normative documents on the preservation of material heritage and serves to preserve a particularly vulnerable type of cultural heritage. The objectives of the Convention are: the protection of the intangible cultural heritage; respect for the intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned; drawing attention at the local, national and international levels to the importance of intangible cultural heritage and its mutual recognition; international cooperation and assistance.
The document states: “Intangible cultural heritage means the practices, representations and expressions, knowledge and skills – and associated instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces – recognized by communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals as part of their cultural heritage. Turkmenistan joined the UNESCO Convention "On the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage" in 2011 and since then has been consistently expanding cooperation in this area, taking an active part in international efforts to implement its provisions.
Turkmenistan has adopted the Law “On the Protection of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage”, and work is underway at the state level to collect, record, research, preserve and protect the country's national intangible cultural heritage. As a result of cooperation with UNESCO, the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity included: the epic art "Gorogly" as an example of destan performance of the Turkmen people; the art of singing and dancing "Kushtdepdi"; Turkmen national art of carpet weaving; Turkmen national skill of making dutar and the art of playing it, accompanied by singing; Turkmen art of embroidery, which have become the cultural heritage of all mankind. Work continues on the nomination for inclusion in this prestigious list of other national values, in particular, the breeding of Akhal-Teke horses and Turkmen Alabays.
