Cultural Voice

ÇATALHÖYÜK FEATURED ON UNESCO’S WORLD HERITAGE LIST As the World Heritage List celebrates its 40th birthday this year, Turkey joins the party adding its eleventh location to the list; Çatalhöyük. Çatalhöyük is a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic site in Konya, in Southern Turkey. Its history goes back to 7400 BC, and it is the largest and is said to be the best-preserved Neolithic site to be discovered hitherto. The site was first excavated in 1958. It is composed entirely of residential buildings and held an estimated population of 10.000. In the UNESCO Resolution, accepted by its 21 experts from various countries, it is expressed that Çatalhöyük fulfilled the basic requirements set by the Treaty of World Heritage, it preserved its authenticity and entirety and had a “global outstanding quality”. The site was nominated for the list by the Turkish Ministry of Culture, and the resolution won raves in Turkey from many parts of society. On the other hand, UNESCO experts...

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, celebrating the 40 th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention launched the Caribbean Training Course in the Preparation of Nomination Dossiers for World Heritage. The Training Course which is being held from the 5 th -15 th June in Kingston, Jamaica serves to build the capacity of cultural agents from across the Caribbean in the preservation of Cultural Heritage. The morning started with a welcome by Dr. Kwame Boafo, Director and UNESCO Representative, UNESCO Kingston Cluster Office for the Caribbean, followed by an address by Mr. Ron Van Oers, Programme Specialist, Special Projects Unit, UNESCO World Heritage Centre. His Excellency Ambassador Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Ambassador of Japan to Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize gave background to the long history of the Japanese with UNESCO, stating that UNESCO was one of the first international organisations that Japan joined after World War II and...