MP suggests nominating Manas epos for Guinness Book

The Kyrgyz epos Manas should be nominated for the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest epic story in the world, Turdukan Jumabekova, a parliament member said at the parliamentary session on Thursday.

In Jumabekova’s opinion, “the great heritage of Kyrgyz people should find its place in the world history.”

The deputy has also proposed to establish a state commission for nomination of the epos to the UNESCO World Heritage List on behalf of Kyrgyzstan but not China.

The parliament member was supported by her counterpart Beishenbek Abdyrasakov. “Kyrgyzstan should patent such national symbols as yurt, ak kalpak (Kyrgyz traditional hat), komuz, holy places and a number of other national items. “Nowadays some of them already engender disputes. So the Kazakhs allege that yurt is their national symbol,” Abdyrasakov added.