Abstract:

UNESCO has prepared treaties for the protection of cultural heritage, which it sees as a tool for sustainable peace and intercommunal dialogue. The Convention on the Protection of Non-Thematic Cultural Heritage (CEDAW) concerns the protection of the elements of heritage within the borders of several countries in cooperation with the relevant communities and groups, and promotes multinational documents if they are presented to international lists. In this context, Turkey has led the introduction of Hıdırellez and Saint George to UNESCO as a multinational file and has started the work, Hıdırellez and Saint George/May Yorgy have organized expert meetings with the participation of the Middle East and Southeast European countries. In these meetings, many Muslim and Christian communities in the region countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine have confirmed that they celebrate the Day of Hiddarles, Saint George or Moon Yorg together, with similar rituals. According to this information, the multinational file, under the moderation of Turkey, Croatia, North Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia and Romania and Spring Day: Hıdırellez/Saint George Celebration, was presented to UNESCO in 2013. In its 2014 meeting, the Intergovernmental Committee "returned" the file on the grounds that the information that "Hirellez" and "Saint George" are the only element is insufficient, and that some countries' inventory records cannot be clearly displayed. The applicant countries, then, re-united in the host of Turkey and taking into account the Committee's decision, adopted the division of the file as "Hıdırellez" and "Saint George" with a majority of votes. After this decision, the moderatorship of Turkey is in accordance with the Hıdırellez file, the idea was adopted for Saint George to start the candidacy process according to the request of one of the Southeast European countries. While these developments are happening in the multinational file, Iraq presented its unique national file with the title “Ilyas Day and the Expression of Wishes” to UNESCO on August 11, 2015, and the Committee meeting held between November 28 and December 2, 2016 also recorded the element in the TL. Meanwhile, Turkey has invited to prepare a multinational file by contacting the countries that have communities celebrating Hıdırellez. The only country to respond to the invitation, North Macedonia and Turkey, in cooperation with Hıdırellez, Spring Day, the file was submitted to UNESCO on 17 March 2016 and was recorded to the TL as the multinational element of the two countries at the Committee meeting held between 4 and 8 December 2017. Despite Turkey’s constant follow-up, invitation and calls for cooperation, it is meaningful that countries that have communities celebrating Hıdırellez within their borders do not take this element into their local and national inventories and therefore do not participate in the multinational file that does not bring any burden to them. This attitude does not support the conservation of non-specific cultural heritage by community participation in local and national processes, but also prevents the element from meeting with the international community through multinational files. This also raises a problem that the Treaty itself is unable to deliver what it is expected from in the preservation and construction of the values such as peace, dialogue, cooperation, which UNESCO emphasizes. To do this, the contractual management needs to produce more encouraging solutions by activating the Second Category Centers on multinational files as a work by the countries at national level in the preparation processes of inventory and the occasion of the meeting of the heritage elements with the international community.

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