“Az i Ya” – 50 years. A new edition of Olzhas Suleimenov’s book was presented in Almaty

On May 27, the 7th International Conference “The Birth of Turkic-Slavic Studies” was held at Narxoz University in Almaty, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of Olzhas Suleimenov’s book “Az i Ya” – a work that became a milestone in the intellectual history of the 20th century.

The conference brought together more than 30 famous scientists, writers, philologists and cultural figures from Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, France, Turkey, China, Israel, the USA and Tajikistan. The speakers included Nobel Prize nominee Timur Zulfikarov, philologist Catherine Pujol (INALCO, France), composer Igor Matsievsky – author of the symphony-concert “Az i Ya”, academician Vladimir Filippov, director of the Ataturk Center Nizami Jafarov, as well as representatives of UNESCO, TURKSOY, Russian and Azerbaijani universities.

The conference culminated in the presentation of a new edition of the book “Az i Ya”, published with the support of the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation, as well as an archival collection from the 1970s-80s and an anniversary issue of the magazine “Prostor” dedicated to this work.

As part of the event, the Olzhas Suleimenov International Prize in Journalism was awarded in recognition of the contribution to the development of humanitarian thought and intercultural dialogue.

First published in 1975, the book “Az i Ya” was an ambitious scientific and poetic experiment. Olzhas Suleimenov put forward a hypothesis about the Turkic etymology of Sumerian words and proposed a new methodology – “archeology of the sign”, thereby laying the foundation for a new discipline – Turkic-Slavic studies.

At the opening and in the closing remarks, the author himself emphasized the historical significance of the project:

“Az i Ya” is my dialogue with the silence of centuries, an attempt to read the signs left by ancestors in the fabric of meanings. Today, 50 years later, the book continues to sound, because it is not about the past – it is about the language of time, about the word that connects destinies,” noted Olzhas Suleimenov.

The speeches covered a wide range of topics – from the history of book censorship in the 1970s to the philosophy of the sign and the musical embodiment of “Az i Ya”. The participants spoke about the book as a marker of an era in which literature became a way of rethinking history, identity and language.

At the conference closing, a resolution was adopted emphasizing the need to preserve the research and humanitarian focus embedded in “Az i Ya” for future generations.