IRNA - Deputy head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization of Iran said that Iran has officially complained to UNESCO against Turkey's bid to register Islamic calligraphy case for 2021 event.

Mohammad Hassan Talebian said that in 2020, Turkey did not suggest an case in this regard but it has recently presented a proposal named Islamic calligraphy for 2021 to UNESCO.

As already mentioned, any country can register its own calligraphy as intangible cultural heritage but the Islamic attribute refers to a large number of countries and it is against the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, he added.

He stressed that Iran had earlier sent its calligraphy file to UNESCO for 2021.

He said that other countries also registered their calligraphy for example China in 2009 has registered its case.

He added that Arabic states had also sent a case for 2021.