The opening ceremony of the common cultural heritage of the Turkic World the Statue of Manas, the protagonist of Manas Epic, was held with the participation of state officials on 9 August 2017 in Istanbul at Sütlüce Park.
Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Erlan Abdyldayev, Minister of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic Gulmira Kudayberdiyeva, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Information of the Kyrgyz Republic Tugolbay Kazakov, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey Prof. Numan Kurtulmuş, Istanbul Governor Vasip Şahin, Metropolitan Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbaş, Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to Ankara Prof. Ibragim Junusov, Consul General of the Kyrgyz Republic to Istanbul Erkin Sopokov, a number of scientists and representatives of the business world and the Kyrgyz Diaspora attended the said event.
Referring to the common past and giving examples from the history, Prime Minister Jeenbekov, Minister of Culture and Tourism Kurtulmuş and Istanbul Mayor Topbaş made speeches where they stated that the Turkish and Kyrgyz peoples constitute the arms of a single nation. The fact that the Statue of Manas was planted in a prominent place in Istanbul is a manifestation of such a partnership desire. This awareness and fraternal spirit together with the Manas Statue will move with the next generation and reinforce the steps taken in the concrete areas of cooperation such as politics, economy, trade, tourism, youth and sports.
Project Directors Farid Damirli, Ali Çiviler, Zhyldyz Uzakova, Jeyhun Shahverdiyev, Özge Pan, Advisor to the Secretary General Reshad Gasimov and Research Expert Dastan Almen participated in the ceremony on behalf of the Turkic Council Secretariat.
After the opening ceremony, a concert was performed by the artists coming from Kyrgyzstan at the Zeytinburnu Culture and Art Center. The concert was followed by the presentation of the book on the Manas Epic that was translated into Turkish by the Kyrgyz and Turkish scholars.
During the events, a number of meetings and contacts were held by the members of the Turkic Council delegation.
