The Uighur community of Kazakhstan noted the country's successes over 30 years of Independence

The Uighur community of Kazakhstan noted the country's successes over 30 years of Independence

A meeting of representatives of the Republican Cultural Center of Uighurs of Kazakhstan was held in Almaty.

The meeting was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan's Independence and was held with the support of the Ministry of Information and Social Development.

A productive exchange of views and discussion of pressing issues took place. It was noted that the acquisition of state sovereignty by Kazakhstan in 1991 opened up new opportunities for the development of interethnic relations.

The participants of the meeting were members of the APK, leaders and active members of ethno-cultural associations, representatives of scientific and creative intelligentsia, youth organizations.

It should be noted that the Republican Cultural Center of Uighurs is the only organization uniting the Uighurs of Kazakhstan under the auspices of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan.

Moderator of the event, member of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan and Chairman of the Republican Uygur Cultural Center Sh. Nurumov:

"The Assembly of People of Kazakhstan promotes the preservation of both the native culture of the Uighur ethnic group and the development of the principles of interethnic harmony in Kazakhstan, laid down by the First President – Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev. Uighurs of Kazakhstan are usually trilingual, in addition to their native language, they have a good command of the state Kazakh and Russian languages." Shaimardan Nurumov said that in 15 regions of the republic there are ethno-cultural associations that are part of the unified public association of Uighurs of the country.

Thus, there are schools with the Uighur language of instruction in Kazakhstan, one of the world's largest Uighur newspapers "Uighur Avazi" is published. The country has the first and only Central Asian State Republican Uighur Musical Comedy Theater named after K. Kuzhamyarov.

During the event, the participants stressed that the Republican Cultural Center, as a public association representing all the regional ethnic and cultural associations of the Uighurs of Kazakhstan, supports the continuity policy of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to strengthen peace and harmony in the country. So, Sh.Nurumov explained that the Center holds events of republican significance that contribute to the strengthening and development of interethnic harmony in the country. For example, within the framework of "Rukhani Zhangyru", the center is working on the preservation and development of the cultural heritage of the Uighurs, is implementing a project to revive the historical names of Uighur dishes, is proactively working on the issue of creating a variant of the Uighur alphabet in Latin.

An important part of the event was the presentation of the film "The Road of Peace and Harmony", authored by Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan, director of the TV channel "Qazaq TV" Maya Bekbayeva. The film shows footage and stories of a unique television expedition to all regions of the country, the main milestones in the history of the multiethnic society of Kazakhstan.

In addition, the chief editor of the socio-political newspaper "Uygur Avazi" Yershat Asmatov, Chairman of the Union of Uygur Youth of Kazakhstan Rustam Kairyev made reports at the meeting. The topics of their speeches were devoted to the successes of Kazakhstan over 30 years of Independence, as well as the formation of educated and competitive Kazakh youth. They noted that the Independence of Kazakhstan allowed the people to feel the real successes of the policy of interfaith and interethnic harmony.

For reference: The Uighurs of Kazakhstan are one of the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups with a rich culture. According to statistics, today the number of Uighurs in Kazakhstan is 278,869 people. Most of them live in the Almaty region (160,801 people) and Almaty (106,253 people).