Mintimer Shaimiev meets Halit Eren

On October 5, at the Kazan Kremlin, Tatarstan State Counsellor, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Revival regional foundation Mintimer Shaimiev had a meeting with Director General of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) Halit Eren.

Eren arrived in Kazan yesterday and visited the Bolgar Historical and Archeological Complex. Today he will take part in the opening of the exhibition “The Winners of the IRCICA's International Calligraphy Competition” at the Museum of Islamic Culture in the Kul Sharif Mosque. In September this year, he also participated in a conference dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Tatar scholar and educator Mardzhani in Kazan.

At the beginning of the meeting Shaimiev thanked Halit Eren for his long-term cooperation with Tatarstan. “We are always grateful to you and Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the founder and the first director general of the IRCICA, who later headed an influential international organization - the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,” he stressed. Since 2000, the IRCICA has been maintaining close contacts with academic, cultural and Muslim organizations of the republic.

Shaimiev reminded that the preparation and publication of the Tatar History and Civilisation book in English in cooperation with the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the republic was of the one of the significant projects the IRCICA implemented in Tatarstan in 2011.

He expressed special thanks to Halit Eren for supporting the activities of the Bolgar Islamic Academy. In September last year, senior managers of the IRCICA participated in the opening of the Bolgar Islamic Academy and handed over a number of fundamental papers on history and culture of Islam to the library of the Academy. In the last academic year, the IRCICA assisted the Academy in establishing contacts with relevant educational institutions of Turkey to exchange experience in the field of studying Islamic and humanitarian disciplines.

Eren noted the great contribution of Shaimiev to the development of relations between Tatarstan and Turkey, including in the field of culture and development of Islam, as well as between Russia and Turkey and between Russia and the Islamic world.

He appreciated the participation of Tatarstan in the activities of the Russia – the Islamic World Strategic Vision Group headed by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov.

Eren also called the inclusion of three historical sites of Tatarstan in the UNESCO World Heritage List a great achievement of the republic.

Issues of further cooperation between Tatarstan and Turkey as part of the cross year of culture and tourism of Russia and Turkey in 2019 were also touched upon during the meeting.