Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan enjoy deep cultural ties
By Sabina Idayatova
Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfaz Garayev met with Kyrgyz delegation, which arrived in Baku to attend the event marking the 85th jubilee of prominent writer Chingiz Aitmatov, AzerTag state news agency reported.
The delegation included Kyrgyz deputy minister of culture, information and tourism Akimbek Tekeshov, world-famous writer Chingiz Aitmatov`s son Askar Aitmatov and film director and writer, USSR People`s Artist Bolotbek Shamsiyev.
At the meeting, Garayev praised the current level of cultural relations between Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, and said the two fraternal nations shared similar history and cultural roots.
Garayev hailed efforts of presidents Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Almazbek Atambayev of Kyrgyzstan to further bolster the bilateral ties.
The minister said the heads of state enjoyed close and sincere relations based on mutual respect.
Garayev pointed out that Kyrgyzstan`s ministry of culture, information and tourism and Azerbaijan`s relevant ministry had good relations.
He described prominent writer of the Turkic world Chingiz Aitmatov as a world-wide famous person.
Garayev noted that events marking jubilee of the great writer should be held in all Turkic speaking countries in the post-soviet space. Chingiz Aitmatov who made the contribution to a treasury of the world literature, is pride not only Kyrgyzstan, but all Turkic world, he emphasized.
The Kyrgyz visitors thanked the Azerbaijani government for highly estimating activities of the outstanding writer.
Aitmatov was a Communist writer whose novels and plays before the collapse of the Soviet Union gave a voice to the people of the remote Soviet republic of Kyrgyz, and who later became a diplomat.
His works are translated into more than 170 languages and issued in more than 100 countries with the circulation of more than 60 million copies. His works have become an indispensable part of the process of education and building of the society. They are a part of the school and university programs in many world countries.