BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 21. The Uzbek people have been treating Azerbaijani culture with great respect and interest for centuries, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev said making a press statement together with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Trend reports.
"The relations of traditional friendship, trust and mutual understanding with Azerbaijan are particularly valued in Uzbekistan. They are based on common spiritual values, religion, similar culture and language. Our peoples are bound together by a long history. Many cities of Azerbaijan where the mutual influence of eastern and western civilizations took place are mentioned in the scientific works of Ahmad Ferghani and Abu Reykhan Biruni. The funds of our Institute of Oriental Studies carefully store dozens of unique manuscripts of Azerbaijani poets and thinkers such as Nizami, Khagani, Tusi, Fuzuli, Khatai and many others. Today I presented one of Fuzuli's manuscripts to esteemed Ilham Heydar oglu. This, I think, is a treasure for us. There are a lot of such manuscripts in Uzbekistan. This is further evidence that the Uzbek people have been treating Azerbaijani culture with great respect and interest for centuries. I want to specifically note that the founding father of Uzbek literature and poetry, Alisher Navoi, was inspired by the works of great Nizami Ganjavi, whom he described as “the king of poets”. This is how he assessed it," the president said.