University eyes culture of Turkey

MILAN - Anatolia News Agency

A symposium focused on the benefits of using scientific meetings to maintain cultural relations between Turkey, Italy and Azerbaijan as well as the key roles the scientific communities of these nations play in today’s civilized world kicked off Sept. 17 at Milan’s Polytechnic University in Italy.

The sixth International Turkic Culture and Art Heritage Conference is being held with the participation of Turkey’s Ambassador to the Vatican Kenan Gürsoy, the Azerbaijani Cultural Heritage Research Association (MİRAS) and the Konya Arts and Culture Foundation.

“This symposium offers the opportunity to learn about a range of civilizations and spread Turkish culture to different countries.” Gürsoy said during the opening of the conference.

Gürsoy noted that Azerbaijan and Turkey are two countries with similar cultures, a fact that may benefit the two in diplomatic relations. “This project would open new dimensions in terms of peace making,” he said.

The conference committee hopes to perform similar activities in Turkey and Baku in the coming years.

Reports on Turkic history, literature, folklore and art, including Turkic plastic arts and traditional Turkic arts like painting, and sculpture will be discussed at the conference. Other topics of discussion include all issues in the field of Turkic social sciences and technology, Turkic Archaeology, including the discussion of archaeological excavations, science and technologies for the protection and restoration of architectural monuments, and educational activities for researchers and technicians in the field.

“We are open to these kinds of international conferences. We are happy to host the cultures of Azerbaijan and Turkey,” said Prof. Alessandro Balducci, rector of Milan’s Polytechnic University.

This year’s conference will continue until Sept. 21.

The conference will be held next year in Vienna and will once again focus on the culture of Turkey and Azerbaijan.