On 16 May, on the Day of Russia-Turkmenistan Friendship, VSU held an event “Poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy as a bridge between Russian and Turkmenistan” dedicated to the 300th anniversary of a Turkmen poet Magtymguly Pyragy, whose birthday is on 18 May. The event was organised by the Faculty of Philology of VSU with the support of the National Chamber under the aegis of the governor of the Voronezh Region.
The event was attended by representatives of 12 fraternities, the National Chamber of the Voronezh Region, cultural and public leaders, teachers, and, of course, Turkmen students.
The host of the event was Zhanna Gracheva, Dean of the Faculty of Philology. She pointed out that the poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy is a kind of bridge between Russian and Turkmen people.
“Magtymguly had a profound influence on the culture and literature of Turkmenistan. Such people keep living even after they pass away. They live for hundreds and thousands of years, they live with every new generation that remember their heritage.
The guests of the event were welcomed by Dmitry Endovitsky, Rector of VSU:
“The mission of our university is to be a bridge. A bridge between east and west, a bridge between countries and cultures. There are VSU alumni associations in Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, and other countries. This is the way we assert our right for our national identity.”
Aleksandr Timashov, personal assistant of the Governor of the Voronezh Region, talked on behalf of the National Chamber:
“The National Chamber believes that the basis of the relationship between our countries is the great Russian language and the victory in the Great Patriotic War. This is what we have in common. There are 104 Heroes of the Soviet Union in Turkmenistan who fought in the war. Ashgabat has the largest Russian-Turkmen school in Central Asia. Reading a monograph by Professor Borozdina, I found that Magtymguly once said the following: “Nations should be a single family, and our ‘toy’ is already served”. Toy means feast in Turkmenistan. So, today, out toy is served!”
“It’s better to be someone who lets birds go, rather than a bird catcher. We are glad when our students graduate from university. Indeed, we have a lot of students from Turkmenistan. The university is, of course, a mixture of various cultures, it’s a unique place that gives knowledge and education, as well as cultural heritage. Our mission is to form a multinational class of intellectuals”, said Vladimir Rodionov, Director of the International Education Institute of VSU.
Vladimir Ivanov, head of the Voronezh House of Friendship and member of the board of the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, wished Turkmen students to become a part of “our large multinational family”. Maskat Rejepov, Chair of the Turkmen subdivision of the Voronezh regional public organization “Central Asian community” congratulated all the guests and remembered what some famous people said about Magtymguly Pyragy. A 4th year student from the Faculty of Philology, Farida Ergasheva, gave a presentation about the role of Magtymguly Pyragy in Turkmen history and culture. Vladimir Gusakov, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philology, gave a talk about Professor Polina Borozdina and about the place of Turkmenistan and Turkmen culture in her life.
There were also other presentations about the poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy and Turkmen literature. The event ended with a concert, which included recitals of Magtymguly’s poems in the Turkmen and Russian languages and songs based on his poems. Turkmen students also performed national dances, including bilezik, kushdepdi, yar yuzinden, and lezginka. Russian culture was represented by a children’s performance studio “Karamelki” with a song “Russian beauties”, a dance ensemble “Sudarushka” with a national dance, and VSU folk music group, Terem.
