Baku one of most beautiful, warmest cities - famous Kazakh writer Olzhas Suleimenov
By Trend
Baku is one of the most beautiful and warmest cities in the world, Olzhas Suleimenov, famous Kazakh poet, writer and literary critic, social and political figure, People's Writer of Kazakhstan, said in his interview to Trend.
“I first visited Azerbaijan in the summer of 1975 - as a participant of the Days of Soviet Literature. I performed throughout the country, visited Ganja, Karabakh, Shusha, met with labor collectives, where representatives of many nationalities worked,” Suleimenov noted. “We must work even more so that the friendship between our peoples, which was formed in Soviet times. All the previous years, the leadership of Azerbaijan has been engaged in solving very complicated political, economic, social problems stemmed from the seizure of 20 percent of the country's territory, and naturally then it was impossible to draw much attention to other issues, but now time and opportunity emerge to strengthen cultural ties, as well.”
“We, writers, haven’t been exchanging Literature Days for over thirty years. Our cinemas, theaters, and artists must communicate more closely,” he said.
“At present, I’m head of the International Center for the Rapprochement of Cultures, which operates in Almaty, under the auspices of UNESCO. We publish the ‘Bilgamesh’ magazine. So far, two trial numbers of the magazine have been released. In it we’ll tell when and why cultures parted, setting their peoples against each other,” the writer said. “This truth will help bring societies closer together. ‘Bilgamesh’ is the name of the protagonist of the Sumerian epic, written 6,000 years ago. ‘Bilgamesh’ is translated as ‘Knower’. Only peoples who know the truth of history are drawing closer together.”
“Rapprochement of cultures is rapprochement of peoples. In every state, this direction of policy, both external and internal, should be the main one, both in multinational and mono-national countries, which are rare in Eurasia. In Armenia, for example, where 97 percent are Armenians, the policy of cultural rapprochement is also extremely important. Awareness of interdependence with all neighbors is a vital condition for peace and development,” Suleimenov said.
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