A youth forum of five Central Asian countries and China "New Era of the Great Silk Road" is being held in Mary, the regional centre of the Turkmenistan region of the same name, the "Turkmenistan: Altyn Asyr" reports.
Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov sent his address. "The task of the forum is to unite the opportunities of Central Asian countries and China in solving the issues of education, science, culture."
Mary is a sister city of Xi'an, the ancient capital of China, where the Great Silk Road began. The State Drama Theatre, named after Kemine, will host cultural and artistic delegations from the countries taking part in the festival.
The choice of venue is no coincidence, as the region is home to the archaeological monument of ancient Merv, known in ancient times as "the gateway to Central Asia". In its heyday, the city was the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate, which stretched from Central Asia to the Mediterranean.
Outstanding poets, mathematicians, astronomers, doctors, musicians and physicists were born here. The polymath Omar Khayyam is known to have worked for several years at the astronomical observatory in Merv. Yakut al-Hamawi counted at least 10 important libraries in the city, including one attached to a large mosque that contained 12,000 volumes.
According to some estimates, in 1200 AD Merv was the largest metropolis in the world at the time, with a population of over half a million.
Eziz Boyarov
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