www.zaman.comThe United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) that lists such diverse locations as the Taj Mahal, Divrigi Ulu Mosque, Swiss Alps and Cappadocia in its World Heritage List, and may also include sama rituals and Mevlevi music as well as the teachings and practices of Mevlana Celaleddin-I Rumi in its "Abstract Cultural Heritage List".
UNESCO added "meddahlik" (public story telling and mimicking) from Turkey to the list and the Cultural and Tourism Ministry also offered UNESCO to take Rumi teachings and practices to the Heritage List by submitting a more detailed file to UNESCO.
The Ministry considers that UNESCO will "certainly" take Rumi teachings and practices to its pre-2007 list. If it is realized, Mevlevi music and sama rituals will be performed in their authentic ways. This would confirm that the Mevlevi tradition has been sown and developed in Turkish culture.
The Ministry had formerly applied to UNESCO to celebrate 2007 as the year of "Tolerance and Dialogue" in the world and as the year of "Mevlana and Tolerance" in Turkey year due to the 800th birthday anniversary of Rumi.
Saying that the Mevlevi tradition has been lived with the practices of associations, Rumi's grandchild of the 22nd generation and a founder of the International Mevlana Association Esin Celebi Bayru has expressed pleasure over the formation of a Mevlana Research and Practice Center in Konya, the Central Anatolian city where Rumi lived.
The center will focus on the life of the Great Sufi Mystique Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, his books, his intellectual and literal identity, characters around him, Mevlevi history and culture; also will research Rumi's influence on Turkish and world literature and culture.
Saying that his opinion has often been expressed in conferences, Professor Nuri Simsekler from Selcuk University has said that Mevlana and his ideas will be represented in national and international activities. |