Mintimer Shaimiev takes part in III Bolgar forum “Idel-Altai”

Tatarstan’s State Counselor, Chairman of the Board of trustees of the Republican Foundation for the Revival of Historical and Cultural Monuments Mintimer Shaimiev took part in opening of II International congress of medieval archeology of Eurasian steppes that is being held within the framework of III Bolgar forum “Idel-Altai” - Idel-Altai: origins of Eurasian civilization.

More than one hundred scientists from different countries have arrived to attend the forum in Barnaul, the capital of the Altai krai, in a conference hall of the academic board of Altai state university. They will discuss problems of ancient history of nations, whose origins are connected with Altai and neighboring regions.

Russian and foreign scientists consider Altai the cradle of Turkic-speaking nations since the history of all Turkic-speaking peoples is connected with tribes that lived on this territory in the 1st millennium B.C.

Mintimer Shaimiev thanked leadership of the Altai krai, in particular the Governor Aleksandr Karlin and scientific community of the region for excellent organization of the event.

“Latest scientific research and discoveries in Tatarstan helped us to develop a comprehensive project for studying ancient processes which happened on a huge territory stretching from the Great Chinese Wall on the East to Danube on the West, where our common ancestors, Turkic and Slavonic peoples, finally formed a unique Eurasian civilization.,” he said.

Mintimer Shaimiev also emphasized that realization of the project is impossible without close cooperation with Altai colleagues and leading specialists from scientific centers of China, Japan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and other countries. Moreover, he told about great work on revival of monuments of the ancient Bolgar and island town Sviyazhsk, where investigation and preservation of objects of historical and cultural heritage are of high priority.

Speaking about historical origins of Turkic-speaking ancestors, Mintimer Shaimiev reminded about great contribution of a famous Russian historian, ethnologist and geographer Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev to investigation of the history of the Eurasian space.

Famous Tatarstan scientists - Director of the Institute of history of the Kazan Federal University Ramil Khairutdinov, Director of the Institute of history named after Sh.Mardzhani of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Rafael Khakimov also spoke at opening of the congress.

A solemn ceremony of awarding the title “Honorable Doctor of the Altai State University” to Mintimer Shaimiev was held afterwards.

Further, Mintimer Shaimiev and representatives of Tatarstan and Altai scientific communities attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition “Medieval Altai” dedicated to the history of development of Turkic peoples.