International Turkic Academy based in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan organized, with the cooperation of UNESCO, the International Virtual Conference on “Consonance of Civilizations along the Silk Road” dedicated to the 1150th Birth Anniversary of the great philosopher Abu Nasr Al-Farabi; the conference was held on 19 October 2020. The conference highlighted the theme of the Silk Road as a common component of the historical and cultural heritage of Turkic peoples all of which are located on the Silk Road. Scholars and specialists of international relations, history, cultural heritage and connected disciplines, heads of international organizations and diplomatic missions came together on this occasion.
The opening session, moderated by Prof. Dr. Darkhan Kidirali, President of the International Turkic Foundation, heard the greetings of Dr. Krymbek Kusherbayev, Secretary of State of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Dr. Mansour Gholami, Minister of Science, Research and Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Salim M. Almalik, Director General of ICESCO; Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Coordinator General of OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH); Prof. Dr. Halit Eren, Director General, IRCICA; Mr. Yalçın Topçu, Chief Adviser to the President of the Republic of Turkey; Dr. Nurzhigit Kadyrbekov, Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Prof. Dr. Halit Eren, Director General of IRCICA, pointed out, in his address, that the Great Silk Road played a unique role in history by linking together peoples in various parts of Asia and Europe thus promoting economic, diplomatic and cultural relations of their diverse peoples and fostering collaboration. In recognition of this all-encompassing experience, in recent times the name of the Silk Road has acquired additional sense indicating a network of communications and a sphere of mutual understanding and cooperation. In this sense, it conveys a spirit of great value for the present and the future. Prof. Eren said that underlining the theme of consonance of civilizations along the lines of the Silk Road paradigm and dedicating it to the great philosopher Al-Farabi creates an inspiring context for refreshing and deepening many crucial concepts that connect peoples in the context of present-time realities. In the present period of the pandemic, achievement of compatibility within diversity and consonance towards common goals among peoples of the world becomes crucial.
Scholarly papers and speeches were delivered during the conference over two sessions. The first session, themed “Civilizations on the Silk Road”, moderated by Hojatullah Ayoubi, Acting Secretary General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, heard the addresses of: Prof. Dr. Düsen Kaseinov, Secretary General, International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY); Prof. Dr. Reza Davarari Ardakani, President, Academy of Science of Iran; Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro, President, ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF); Prof. Dr. Dmitriy Voyakin, Director of the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), Uzbekistan; Prof. Dr., Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Popova, Director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia; Prof. Dr. Ilham Mahammadzada, Director, Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan; Prof. Dr. Ramil Khaytrutdinov, Director, Institute of International Relations, Kazan Federal University, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Central Asian Studies, Tatarstan, Russian Federation.
The second session, themed “Philosophy of al-Farabi and Modern World”, moderated by Galimkair Mutanov, Rector of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan, heard the addresses of: Mahmoud Fouad, Director of the al-Farabi Center, Department of Linguistics, Cairo University, Egypt; Bekir Karliğa, Coordinator of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Turkey, Turkey; Bakhrom Abdukhalimov, Vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan; Osmon Togusakov, Vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzstan; Albert Fischler, Honorary Professor, France, Officer in the Order of Academic Palms, France; Georgios Steiris, Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece; Saidrahmon Sulaimonov, Professor, Tajik National University, Tajikistan.
