Turkey: Whistled language to enter university curriculum

GIRESUN, Turkey

A Turkish university in the northern Giresun province will offer the whistled language as an elective course next term.

The Giresun University in the Black Sea region will add the whistled language -- inscribed in the UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2017 -- to the curriculum of the tourism faculty as an elective course.

"Whistled language has been used by local people for centuries to communicate with each other" in the Canakci district, Musa Genc, dean of the tourism faculty, told Anadolu Agency.

According to Genc, the whistled language -- also known as the bird language -- underwent a scientific study first in 1956, revealing that it has protected its all features until today.

He expressed concern for the language to be part of extinct languages, urging for protection of cultural heritage in the wake of the technological developments and migration.

UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list has 17 Turkish traditions.

Intangible cultural heritage is a type of cultural heritage which includes oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festivals, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts, according to UNESCO’s official website.

*Writing by Burak Bir