Culture Ministry, ICYF to expand ties

By Azernews

By Laman ?smayilova

The Culture Minister Anar Karimov has met a delegation led by the head of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum  (ICYF) Taha Ayhan.

The delegation also included ICYF Director-General Rasul Omarov, ICYF Eurasian Regional Center Elmaddin Mehdiyev and others.

The parties discussed further cooperation in the framework of the Islamic Cultural Heritage.

In his speech, Anar Karimov emphasized that the close ties had been established between OIC and Azerbaijan, which contributed to the promoting and strengthening of Islamic solidarity.

Speaking about the importance of cultural development for the youth of Muslim countries, the Minister stressed the importance of joint projects.

Anar Karimov stressed the importance of exchange between young people. He also noted that Shusha has been announced Azerbaijanis' cultural capital by the order of President Ilham Aliyev.

The Culture Minister also touched upon the visit of ICESCO delegation to Azerbaijan in January, when the head of the organization proposed to declare Shusha the "Capital of Islamic Culture".

Speaking about TURKSOY's proposal to declare Shusha the "Capital of Culture of the Turkic World" in 2023, Anar Karimov stressed that this decision proves a great attention of the Turkic-Islamic world to the cultural richness of Azerbaijan's ancient city.

Furthermore, Taha Ayhan informed the Culture Minister about ICYF activities and expressed his intention to work closely with the Ministry.

He made proposals on projects dedicated to Azerbaijan's victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, including art festival, exhibitions and other events to promote the cultural heritage and spiritual values ??of Karabakh region.

The meeting continued with an exchange of views on issues of mutual interest.

Notably,  Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) is an international, non-commercial, non-partisan organization uniting leading umbrella youth organizations from the Member-States of the Organization of Islamic-Cooperation (OIC) as well as international youth organizations, operating in the OIC region and youth organizations representing significant Muslim minorities worldwide.

The forum was established at its Founding General Assembly held in Baku in 2004. 

Exchange of ideas and experiences and mutual understanding among young people from the OIC countries, resolution of social-economic, moral and cultural problems youth of the OIC region are among the main goals of the forum.

ICYF focuses on holding mutual projects which can meet the principles of solidarity, dialogue and cooperation among youth organizations and finding out of way of solving the problems of youth in these countries.