Interreligious harmony and intercultural dialogue:Uzbekistan’s experience

Conference-presentation “Interreligious harmony and intercultural dialogue: Uzbekistan’s experience” was held on 1 October at the UN Headquarters in New York.

It was attended by high level officials of the UN Secretariat, Heads of the missions of the UN Member-States, representatives of US academic and cultural circles, and also Mass Media.

Representatives of the Bukharian Jewish Congress of USA and Canada and nongovernmental Turkistan-American Association were also present at the event.

Speaking at the conference Mr. Vladimir Norov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, underlined that since the first days of Uzbekistan’s independence President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov had defined the issues of strengthening interreligious and intercultural dialogue as a priority of the state policy. Thanks to this policy today the Uzbek society can be described as an example of cultural diversity and tolerance.

Uzbekistan is a multinational and multicultural country. It is home to the representatives of more than 16 religious confessions and more than 136 different nationalities. Such a cultural diversity is considered as an invaluable wealth of the Uzbek society.

Mr. Norov also noted that the ideas of interreligious tolerance, kindness and compassion, respect for the different cultural values had traditionally been distinctive features of the Uzbek people. It is explained with the fact that the territory of Uzbekistan for many centuries has been a crossroad of different religions and cultures. For thousands of years the traditions of Zoroastrism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity have been coexisting in Uzbekistan. Being at the center of the Great Silk Road the ancient land of Uzbekistan served as a bridge between the East and the West.

Uzbekistan attaches great importance to preservation of spiritual values of different religions. The meeting of Muslims and Christians held in 1995 under the slogan “Living together under one sky”, 125th Anniversary of the Tashkent and Central Asian eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as the events dedicated to 100th Anniversary of the Uzbekistan Evangelical-Lutheran community are the bright examples of the noble deeds in this course.

International conference entitled “World religions on the path of culture and peace” was held in Tashkent and Samarqand in 2000. In 2002 the Rome-Catholic Church celebrated 100th anniversary of revival of the Catholicism in Central Asia. Events dedicated to 100th Anniversary of Armenian Apostolic Church were held in Samarqand in 2003.

This year Tashkent international conferences entitled “Islam and tolerance. Uzbekistan’s examples” as well as “Uzbekistan’s contribution to the development of Islamic civilization” took place in Uzbekistan. These events once again demonstrated the consistent attention of the Government of Uzbekistan to the issues of promoting and strengthening intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

For significant contribution of Uzbekistan to Islamic culture and science, preserving monuments and enrichment of the Islamic heritage the International Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), which is one of the structures under the Organization of Islamic Conference, announced the capital city of Uzbekistan - Tashkent as the World Capital of Islamic Culture in 2007.

Professor of the Rutgers University, directorof the Global Scholarly Publications Dr. Parviz Morewedge in his presentation highlighted centuries old tradition of coexistence of different cultures and religions on the territory of Uzbekistan. According to him “ancient land of Uzbekistan is one of the cradles of world civilization”.

Professor Morewedge commended Uzbek Governments’ policy in the sphere of strengthening and promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue. “The Government of Uzbekistan has been paying an equal attention to preserving and promoting the cultural and spiritual values of all religions and nationalities residing in Uzbekistan. I truly welcome this approach”, he underlined.

He also said that representatives of Uzbek people – world known scholars like Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Beruni, al-Khorezmi and many others have greatly contributed not only to the development of world science and culture but also to deepening the mutual understanding among civilizations and cultures.

President of the Bukharian Jewish Congress of USA and Canada Mr. Boris Kandov in his talk stressed that Uzbekistan represents an exemplary society in terms of religious and cultural tolerance. For centuries Bukharian Jews have been living in Uzbekistan in peace and harmony, he said. At present there are 8 Bukharian Jewish organizations in Uzbekistan and we feel very grateful to the Uzbek Government for its constant attention and care for religious and cultural values of Bukharian Jews living in Uzbekistan, Mr. Kandov stressed.

President of the Turkistan American Association, the US based cultural non-profit organization, Mr. Abdulla Kwaja stressed that distinctive feature of Uzbekistan’s policy in the sphere of interreligious dialogue is equal attention to all religions. “Uzbekistan is among few countries in the world providing all necessary conditions for activities of all religions and cultures”, he said. He also praised the Uzbek Government’s efforts in promoting enlightened Islam.

The presentation was followed by a performance of dance and music representing cultural diversity of Uzbekistan.