Days of Culture of the Gagauzia in the Republic of Tatarstan

On March 16, 2016 in the Great Reading Room of the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan within the framework of Days of Culture of the Gagauzia in the Republic of Tatarstan there was held a round table with the participation of scientific and creative intellectuals of Tatarstan and Gagauzia.

Before the official opening, all guests and participants of the round table had an opportunity to familiarize with two exhibitions. At the exhibition National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan had presented  documents from its funds dedicated to the Gagauz language and culture. One of the books that has aroused particular interest among the representatives of the delegation of Gagauzia - is the V.A. Moshkov's "Materials for the study of the Gagauz dialect of the Turkic language", published in 1895 in the printing house of the Imperial Kazan University. The publication reflects the Gagauz tales in Gagauz language with translation and a brief analysis of the literary criticism. In their turn, the guests prepared an exhibition "Gagauzia Kysadan", which presented the books covering the questions of the origin of the Gagauz as a nation, the stages of formation of national consciousness, particular qualities of the economic development of society, dynamics of population size and dispersal of the people. All documents of the exhibition "Gagauzia Kysadan" were donated to the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan. With the words of greeting at the round table spoke Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan Guzel Sharipova, deputy of Bashkan (The Head) of Gagauzia Olesya Tanasoglo, Chairman of Tatarstan State Council committee on education, culture, science and national issues Razil Valeev and the Head of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Gagauzia Vasilisa Petrovich. All the speakers were unanimous in their statements about the importance of trade and economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation between Tatarstan and Gagauzia, as well as the close interrelation and interpenetration of traditions of Turkic, Slavic and Finno-Ugric cultures that had a great impact on related Tatar and Gagauz ethnic groups with common Turkic roots. Especially significant was the fact that the Days of Culture of Gagauzia were held in the Republic of Tatarstan for the first time.

The participants heard and discussed reports on the history of the Tatar, Nogai, and the Gagauz people, the role of literature in the Tatar and Gagauz culture, questions of formation of the national policy and work with the population on the territory of Gagauzia. At the end of the meeting the director of the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan Syuyumbike Ziganshina has told to the guests of Kazan about the main library of a Republic, the building of which is a federal object of culture, and the stocks of which include more than 3 million of storage units. Also as a gift to the library of Gagauzia there were transferred valuable books on the history and culture of the Republic of Tatarstan.