Exhibition on Polish Tatars inaugurated in Kazakh capital

«Last November the ancient city of Samarqand hosted the Summit of the Organization of the Turkic Countries. Itwas decided to declare 2023 the Year for the development of Turkic civilization to explore and preserve cultural heritage of the ancient Turkic nations. The Turkic nations for millennia remained the cultural centres and centres of civilizations connecting the East and West bringing the global civilizations together and enriching cultures. The goal of today’s meeting is to tell about the unique civilization of the ancestors, ancient Turks, and remind all Turkic nations of their common heritage,» said director of the centralized library system of the capital city Gulbadan Madibayeva.

An address of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Poland to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Selim Chazbijewicz stirred great interest. He told those present about the Polish Tatars or Lipka Tatars settled in Poland. He stressed that the Polish Tatars during the process of assimilation lost their native language but preserved their culture and faith, the majority of the ethnic group are of Muslim community.

Bairas Azamatov told about the history of Bashkir people, their language and culture. He is a native of Bashkortastan. He took an active part in the work of Bashkir communities, promotes social projects on Bashkir language and culture.

Besides, a book exhibition and a photo exhibition on Polish Tatars organized by the Embassy of Poland and the public library opened at the Polska Jedność society on the ground of the Central City Library named after Auezov.

15 stands feature archival photographs illustrating the life of Polish-Lithuanian Tatars since their settlement in the territory of modern Poland. It is open to public until the end of April.