Iran, 4 other countries appeal to UNESCO on Armenia’s claim over lavash

on July 11, 2021 | 8:43:21

Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have prepared and submitted a document to UNESCO regarding lavash, calling for its recognition as part of the common heritage of these countries, Turkish daily Habertürk reported.

The newspaper reports that Iran and 4 more countries protested against Armenia’s including lavash in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List with document titled “Lavash in Armenia”.

UNESCO will discuss the document named “Flatbread-making and sharing culture: Lavash, Katyrma, Jupka, Yufka,” and a final decision will be announced at the 11th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, to be held between Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 in Ethiopia

This is not the first protest against Armenia’s initiative regarding lavash. Armenia has earlier initiated to include lavash in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List as “Armenian bread-lavash”, but changed the name of document as “Lavash in Armenia” after the protests of Azerbaijan and Turkey. The joint document developed by Azerbaijan and 4 countries emphasizes that lavash is a common cultural heritage of the peoples living in this region.

The UNESCO website describes lavash thus: “A simple dough made of wheat flour and water is kneaded and formed into balls, which are then rolled into thin layers and stretched over a special oval cushion that is then slapped against the wall of a traditional conical clay oven. After thirty seconds to a minute, the baked bread is pulled from the oven wall.”

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