The Dialogue Eurasia Platform (DA Publishing), which aims to build bridges among Eastern European and Central Asian countries with which Turkey has historic, religious and linguistic ties, organized an event to publicize the Turkish translation of “Adem Zat” (Humankind) by Garifolla Esim, dean of Almaty State University’s faculty of philosophy and pedagogy and a Kazakh parliamentary deputy.

In a speech, Professor İlber Ortaylı, a historian and the director of Topkapı Palace, underlined the importance of the meeting, saying: “We Turks do not know much about Kazakh culture and society; thus this meeting constitutes a first step for the two societies to get to know each other. With the translation of this book, we have the opportunity to take a closer look at Kazakhs’ philosophical thinking system.”

DA co-Chair Harun Tokak, who led the initiative to translate the book, noted: “We Turks and Kazakhs are two children from the same mother. We are brothers. For various reasons, we had become distant from each other. Now with the cooperation of the Kazakhstan cultural authorities, we have launched a joint campaign to translate Turkish books into Kazakh and Kazakh books into Turkish.”

“As a first step, each side is to translate 10 books,” Tokak added. He also noted the success of the Kazakh administration in providing a peaceful atmosphere for its people from different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. In November of last year, DA decorated Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev with a Eurasia Medal for his contribution to dialogue in Eurasia during the president’s official visit to Turkey.

“Humankind” reflects a traditional view of the combination of Turkish-Islamic understanding toward the human being’s ontological characteristics and responsibilities for humanity.

In a speech, Esim, who is also the chairman of DA’s Kazakhstan Committee, called attention to the similarities between Turkish and Kazakh societies, which he thinks prepares the ground for further progress in Kazakh-Turkish relations and thanked DA for helping to translate and publish his book.

Beşir Ayvazoğlu, a journalist and author, praised the style of the book, noting that unlike other philosophical texts, he finds the book has a flowing style.

The Kazakh intellectuals and politicians paid a visit to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Tuesday. In the meeting, Erdoğan highlighted the significance of Turkish schools and university in Kazakhstan in improving bilateral relation between the countries.

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MINHAC ÇELIK, İSTANBUL

18 February 2010