Baku. Konul Kamilgizi – APA. Azerbaijan’s Copyright Agency has issued a statement on the submission of Azerbaijani folk dance "Kocheri" by the Armenian culture minister for the recognition of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
According to the statement, Armenians have been stealing and appropriating the Azerbaijani peoples’ musical compositions, folklore samples and other intangible values for years.
Armenians are trying to present Azerbaijan’s “Sari gelin”, “Susen Sunbul” and dozens of other folk songs, “Yalli, “Kocheri”, “Uzundere”, “Mirzeyi” dances, ancient musical instruments (tar, balaban, zurna), even works of famous Azerbaijani composers Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Gara Garayev, Fikret Amirov and modern composers like Armenian examples.
It’s not the first time Armenians have attempted to privatize Kocheri, an Azerbaijani folk dance. A similar attempt was made during the final round of the Eurovision-2011 Song Contest. The Armenian performer tried to present Kocheri as an Armenian example of dance. As soon as the fact was uncovered, the Copyright Agency launched an investigation, preparing and releasing a reference about the Azerbaijani origin of Kocheri dance. The reference was based on historical facts and explained the etymology of the word Kocheri. A related letter was then sent to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
As regards the word’s etymology, Mahmud Kashghari in his famous book named “Divan-e Lughat” suggests the following meanings of the word Kocheri: Koch-qoch (meaning male ram); migrate from one place to another or from one house to another.
Kocheri dance is a kind of Yalli, another famous Azerbaijani dance.
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