PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

On May 27, 2025, the International Center for the Rapprochement of Cultures under the auspices of UNESCO will organize the 7th International Conference in Support of the Culture of Knowledge on the theme “The Birth of Turkic Slavic Studies”, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the book by the poet and public figure Olzhas Suleimenov “Az i Ya”.

The purpose of the conference is to scientifically understand the historical role of the book “Az i Ya”, which influenced the formation of the national and international self-awareness of several generations of Eurasian readers, bringing cultures closer together for half a century and revealing their interdependent history.

“Az i Ya” has become a historical work, where the main plot is the dramatic acquisition of self-awareness by peoples in dialogue with each other. Over the past decades, this book has taken a prominent place among the works that determined the development and rapprochement of the cultures of Eurasia, becoming a worthy element of the intellectual heritage of mankind.

Within the framework of the conference, it seems important to study the scientific and cultural experience of those years, expressed in the book "Az i Ya". In the 1960-70-80s, thanks to the active work of the intelligentsia, the historical experience of the peoples was understood in the national republics to move into a state of active social action. This is a period of conscious interdependence of literature and nations in dialogue with the world. It was the literary works of those decades that returned great names to Kazakh culture, several centuries and millennia of evidence, bringing together the biographies of peoples on the roads to the future with knowledge, giving them historical memory and the right to act in the 21st century. "Az i Ya", which determined the narratives of the national intelligentsia's acquisition of historical subjectivity for decades to come, entered the intellectual history of the 20th century, giving several generations of readers not only the content, but also the very style of its presentation, the freedom of genuine knowledge about history, necessary for the future. Olzhas Suleimenov, having started the book as a poetic decoding of the "dark places" of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", created a new scientific discipline - Turkic Slavic studies, and, having made discoveries of the Turkic etymology of Sumerian words and hieroglyphs, developed a new methodology (archaeology of the sign and the word), which allowed to study their origin, and over the next half-century - in thousands of etymologies to continue the discoveries of the history of Homo Sapiens.

And the historical-linguistic project "1001 words" proclaimed half a century ago in the book "Az i Ya" was embodied not only in the scientific and literary works of the author, but became the basis of the global UNESCO project for the rapprochement of cultures.

The upcoming conference will unite scientists, writers, cultural and artistic figures in the study of the most famous book by Olzhas Suleimenov, who in the 20th century began the process of restoring and generalizing knowledge about what culture is and what path humanity has taken on its routes to the future. Its holding will contribute to the implementation of UNESCO's mission - to promote peace, mutual understanding and rapprochement of peoples, and will also promote the activities of this authoritative international organization.

The conference is held within the framework of the implementation of the UNESCO Medium-Term Strategy for 2022-2029, the practical implementation of the ideas of the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures, the International Decade of Indigenous Languages ​​(2022-2032) and UNESCO's efforts to build knowledge societies.

Date and time of the conference: May 27, 2025 from 10.00 to 17.00.

Venue: Narxoz University, address: Almaty, Zhandosov Street, 55 (Assembly Hall).

Contact numbers: 7 747 132 4475 - Igor Vladimirovich Krupko.

7 727 261 20 09 - International Center for the Rapprochement of Cultures under the auspices of UNESCO. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE