Iran: Iranian, Turkmen Officials Meet on Cultural-Literary Issues

Section: General News - The Culture and Islamic Guidance Office of the northeastern Golestan province sponsored a meeting in the city of Gonbad Monday in a bid to increase interactions and boost ties between Iranian and Turkmen cultural and literary figures.

The meeting was held at Red Crescent Hall of Gonbad-e-Kavous, where some of the participants from both countries stressed the need for more ties and interactions in cultural and artistic fields, the Islamic republic news agency reported.

The participants meanwhile typically referred to lots of cultural and literary commonalities between the two nations and reiterated that visits of the two countries' cultural delegations is a measure at the service of increasing the unity and expanding cultural ties.

Cultural-Political Affairs Deputy of Gonbad-e-Kavous Township welcomed the audience of the meeting, particularly its foreign guests and referred to the peaceful coexistence of various ethnic groups and followers of different faiths in Golestan Province.

Abbas Ali Mir-Hosseini added, "The peoples of this land have always lived unified and amicably side by side of one another."

He said, "The Iranian and Turkmen Muslim nations and governments are friends of one another, with lots of commonalities, that serve as factors assisting their unity and solidarity."

Mir-Hosseini considered the existence of hundreds of kilometers of shared borders as well as the great, renowned Gnostic poet, Makhtoum Gholi Faraqi, among the commonalities of the two nations, adding, "This great Turkmen poet is among the most revered prides of the two nations."

Head of Gonbad Culture and Islamic Guidance Office, too, in the meeting considered Islam as the greatest shared point of the two nations, arguing, "Our sacred religion breaks time and place barriers in order to boost friendship bonds, unity and solidarity among various Islamic nations."

Mohammad Reza Davarzani pointed out that arts and cultures are among the shared heritage wealth of the entire world nations, adding, "The most significant outcome of such meeting and visits is strengthening the bonds of friendship, increasing interactions, and boosting unity between the two friendly countries of Iran and Turkmenistan."

In addition to lectures and addresses by the two countries' literary and cultural figures, the audience enjoyed the performance of some artistic troupes of the two countries, particularly a traditional Turkmen music troupe and Gonbad-e-Kavous Township's Moshtaq music troupe.

The 14 member Turkmen cultural, literary and artistic delegation attending the meeting arrived in Iran on August 10th and have so far in addition to pilgrimage of Imam Reza's Holy Shrine in Mashhad visited the tombs of such great Iranian poets and thinkers as Bayazid Bastami, Attar Neyshabouri, Hakim Omar Khayyam, Khajeh Hafez Shirazi, Sheikh Mosleheddin Sa'di,... as well as some famous cultural and historical monuments throughout Iran.

Gonbad-e-Kavous Township with its 290,000 population is located at the east side of Iran's northeastern Golestan Province. - FNA