On the occasion of Abay Day, a commemorative ceremony was held at the statue of Abay Kunanbaiuly in the heart of Budapest City Park, on Astana Street,El.kz cites MFA.
The ceremony was attended by Gábor Nagy, Director of the Department for Russia and Central Asia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Kubanichbek Omuraliev, Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States, Mehmet Süreyya Er, Secretary General of TurkPA, Shahin Mustafayev, President of the International Turkic Academy, Sultan Raev, Secretary General of TURKSOY, István Vásáry, Head of the European Representation of the Organization of Turkic States in Budapest, Kinga Erős, President of the Hungarian Writers’ Association, András Gál, President of the Hungarian-Kazak Foundation “Barsz”, and other Kazakhs and students living in Hungary.
Abzal Saparbekuly, the recently appointed Kazakh Ambassador-Designate to Hungary, extended his warmest congratulations to the assembled group on the auspicious occasion of this significant spiritual celebration.
The diplomat noted that according to the decision of the Kazakh head of state, August 10 has been declared “Abay Day”, and events dedicated to the philosopher Abay with various cultural programs celebrates not only in Kazakhstan, but also abroad.
The Ambassador posited that Sándor Petőfi is the preeminent poet of the Hungarian people, and Abay is the consummate genius and thinker of the Kazakh people, who left an indelible historical legacy.
However, Kinga Erős, head of the Hungarian Writers’ Association, noted that 10 years have passed since the inauguration of the Abay monument in Budapest, and underlined that the poems of the only child of the Great Steppe are full of humanity and wisdom. She concluded her speech by reciting the great poet’s poem “Don’t boast ignorantly” in Hungarian, and stressed the importance of his poems for morality and humanism.
Kubanichbek Omuraliev and Sultan Raev, Secretaries General of the Organization of Turkic States and TURKSOY, noted that when we speak of the Kazakhs, we immediately think of Abay, when we speak of Abay, we think of the Kazakh people, the poet’s rich heritage is a spiritual legacy not only for the Kazakh people but for all humanity and the Turkic world.
At the end of the event, Abay’s poems were read in Kazakh and Hungarian, followed by the song “You are the light of my eyes” by the famous Hungarian singer Tamás Palcsó.