Hikmet

By TDH, *Hoja Ahmed Yasavi’s personality and creative heritage in focus of attention* - Turkmenistan The Golden Age - Ashgabat, Turkmenistan //Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The International Conference “Hoja Ahmed Yasavi and Sufi Literature of the East” started its work in Ashgabat. The scientific forum is initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who pays significant attention to the study and promotion of the historical and cultural heritage of the Turkmen nation. Magtymguly Institute of Language and Literature under the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan organizes the conference.

Orientalists, historians, philosophers, philologists, culture experts, translators and other specialists from over 20 countries of the world had arrived to Ashgabat to take part in the international symposium. The keen interest of Turkmen and foreign scientists in the forum in Ashgabat vividly illustrates the international recognition of a contribution of the outstanding thinker and poet of the medieval East and the influence of his creative heritage on the Turkmen and world culture are recognized in the modern world.

Certainly, the renowned founder of the Turkic branch in Sufism, the author of “The Book of Wisdom” (Diwan Hikmet), numerous treatises and the master of artistic word, Hoja Ahmed Yasavi had a profound influence on the spiritual and cultural life of the East. His heritage is an aspect of thorough scientific research until the present time. That is vividly illustrated by the international forum in Ashgabat, the main objective of which was to define the role of the scientific and literary heritage of the Turkmen poet and philosopher to the historical and cultural processes and spotlight his influence on the spiritual culture of the East.

This scientific forum is of particular significance for it is taking place in the period when the concrete and effective steps are taken in Turkmenistan to promote the Turkmen science and bring it to a higher level through cooperation with international research centres as well. During the recent government meeting focusing on the national strategy for developing the national culture and historical science and forming the new ideology of the Turkmen state and society, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov underlined that the study of history, culture and folklore, the works of Turkmen classical literature and the philosophical heritage of scholars and thinkers of the past, promotion of their creative heritage were the most important vectors of the development of the national school of science.

During five sections of the “Hoja Ahmed Yasavi and Sufi Literature of the East” Conference the forum participants considered the important aspects of the research in the Turkmen poet’s biography, his influence on the social and philosophical thought of the East, the Turkmen language and literature. A focus of the discussion was the study and publication of the manuscripts of Hoja Ahmed Yasavi’s works kept in the depositories in different countries.

In Ashgabat foreign guests visited the Main National Museum, the National Carpet Museum and landmarks of the Turkmen capital and had the meeting with students of the higher educational institutions.