Brussels, November 15, 2019 - A literary evening dedicated to the great Kazakh poet and enlightener Abay Qunanbaiuly was held at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Belgium with the participation of employees of the Kazakh diplomatic mission and their families, as well as compatriots living in Belgium.
Special guests of the creative evening were a literary agent, a member of the World Association of Kazakhs, a representative of the Asyl Otan cultural and business center, Baktygul Makhanbetova, Kazakhstani scholars, philologists, writers Dandai Ysqaquly, Klara Kabylgazina, Nurym Taybek and others who arrived in Brussels as part of participation to The Eurasian Book Forum and Literary Festival.
In her speech, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Belgium, Aigul Kuspan, noted that “Abay is the great son of the Kazakh people, the soul and eternal dawn of the Great Steppe. Abay’s heritage has no age; it is timeless and beyond all borders. ”
According to Baktygul Makhanbetova, “Abay is Confucius, Goethe, Shakespeare, and Pushkin all rolled into one. Our task today is to convey to all people in the world the full depth of Abay’s thoughts, and help in the correct understanding of his invaluable heritage. ”
During the event, Kazakhstani philologists also spoke about Abay’s heritage, interesting facts from his work. Opinions were expressed about the existing problems of a high-quality translation of the works of the Kazakh thinker, full of deep meaning and value.
At the meeting, Abay’s poems “Kyz” and “Gylym tappai maqtanba” performed by the children of Beksultan and Temirlan Kayyrbekovs were also sounded.
At the end of the evening, Baktygul Makhanbetova handed over more than 10 books on Abay's possessions to the fund of the library of the Embassy in Kazakh, Russian and English.