Bitlis, located in Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, is the administrative center bearing its own name. This city is on a transport corridor connecting the north to the south opened by the Bitlis Stream on the Southeast Taurus Mountains. Therefore, it has been considered as administrative and cultural center of the eastern half of Anatolia throughout history. Following Ahlat, the first Turkish capital, Bitlis is the second capital of Anatolia. These two settlements in question were populated with migrations from both Central Asia and the Mesopotamian Region.Bitlis and Ahlat are mentioned among the cities considered important for the TurkishIslamic World with their many features.Especially Bitlis draws attention as a center where both the Asian food culture and the Mesopotamian food culture meet, mix, and new food types emerges. It has a very important place in Gastronomy with more than 200 types of food even though it is partially forgotten today due to the fact that it is a fast emigrating area. Beginning to benefit from gastronomic wealth can mean a pioneering initiative for both Bitlis city and Bitlis province to use their tourism potential. Because the century we live in is known as a period of time in which patterns of tourist motivation have changed considerably. In recent years, among the tourism types the most striking and have most destination tourism type is gastronomic tourism. For this reason, cities with gastronomic wealth, known as intangible heritage, have discovered gastronomic tourism providing high income. But, it is noteworthy that some food types specific to Bitlis are being imitated by neighbouring cities and are registered to their own names by using legal process. This situation causes a number of problems that lead to the destruction of the brand value of Bitlis city and the loss of copyright. In 2004, UNESCO created creative cities network in seven fields to eliminate such problems, to promote cities and help sustainable urban development. The fact that the city of Bitlis is added to the network of UNESCO creative cities is the main purpose of this work. UNESCO has set six main criteria that participants have to meet because of the fact that many cities are willing to be included to the network to get higher income and take advantage of the protective effect. Criteria such as information sharing, cooperation between cities, local governments to take ownership of the issue, long-term cooperation, preservation of a cultural tradition are required in order to improve functionality of the creative cities network. Therefore, progress in many areas such as intense cooperation between various levels of the community, protection and planning of the environment and raising education level of the community is required. In that case, legal initiatives for protection of gastronomic wealth should be firstly launched and necessary steps should be taken to involve Bitlis in UNESCO Creative Cities Network and designate as a City of Gastronomy. On the other hand, firstly a substructure should be prepared to meet participation criteria designed by UNESCO and local community is compelled to be educated. Such initiatives, which are very important for regional development, can be achieved only through cooperation between universities and local government The century we live in is known as a period of time in which patterns of tourist motivation have changed considerably. In recent years, the most striking tourism type is gastronomic tourism. This tourism type includes people who are educated, middle aged, working in administrative and professional fields, staying in qualified hotels wherever they go and spending on average. For this reason, cities with gastronomic wealth, known as intangible heritage, have discovered gastronomic tourism providing high income. However, it is noteworthy that a cultural wealth of a city can be copied because of the fact that competition has reached the highest level between countries, regions and even cities. This situation causes a number of problems that lead to the destruction of the brand value of that city and the loss of copyright. In 2004, UNESCO created creative cities network in seven fields which are literature, cinema, music, crafts and folk arts, design, media arts and gastronomy to eliminate such problems and help sustainable urban development. 116 cities meeting required criteria have been included to this network all over the world until now and 18 of them are cities of gastronomy. UNESCO has set six main criteria that participants have to meet because of the fact that many cities are willing to be included to the network to get higher income. Criteria such as information sharing, cooperation between cities, local governments to take ownership of the issue, long-term cooperation, preservation of a cultural tradition are required in order to improve functionality of the creative cities network. Therefore, progress in many areas such as intense cooperation between various levels of the community, protection and planning of the environment and raising education level of the community is required. Therefore, the process of joining the creative cities network has become very difficult. It is obvious that a long termed, patient and meticulous preparation time is necessary. The food culture areas transmitted from generation to generation through cultural heritage are very limited in the world. Turkey, located in the geometric center of the Old World, is a country known for its gastronomic wealth. However, the centers drawing attention with their gastronomic wealth in different provinces in this country are limited. Among these centers, Gaziantep, Bitlis, Bolu and Kahramanmaraş are at the top of the list. While Gaziantep has been included to creative cities network, Bitlis which is richer in terms of food culture could not benefit from any protective facilities. Moreover, it is noteworthy that some food types specific to Bitlis are being imitat