Turkey boasts nine historical sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including Troy, Cappadocia, Hattusha, and Pamukalle, each noted for its outstanding value to humanity and global history. Currently, work has begun to add the Seljuk Cemetery, located in the Bitlis Ahlat province on the western shore of Lake Van, to the list of properties on the World Heritage List, reported the Doğan News Agency.

The Seljuk Cemetery is home to 8,000 4-meter-high tombstones dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. Ahlat Mayor Mevlüt Gülmez said the ministry was carrying out work in the region for the world's largest Muslim cemetery, now an open-air museum, to be included on the World Heritage List and that a 10-person scientific committee from UNESCO had come to the province to complete their evaluation of this southeastern site.

Noting that the old settlement and tombstones of the Seljuk city Ahlat deserved to be on the World Heritage List, Gülmez said, “This effort is not only for the good of Ahlat but for Turkey and the world. To know Ahlat means to know Turkey. Our ministers attach great importance to Ahlat and have put together many projects for the city.”