
Today and tomorrow, the capital of the Altai Republic hosts one of the most significant events of broad public dialogue within the development of public diplomacy in Eurasia. The Third International Altai Forum is being held today in Gorno-Altaisk.
“If there were no Altai, there would be no Manas, there would be no Kyrgyzstan, Kalmykia and Kazakhstan. This is recognized in China and Korea, and in the Japan people from Altai are recognized. I am very glad that the opportunities of this project pass through the prism of youth cooperation; young people will learn not only about the country, but also about the Altai civilization,” emphasized Andrei Belyaninov, Secretary General of the Eurasian and African Peoples’ Assembly.
The Third International Altai Forum of the Eurasian and African Peoples' Assembly, the Government of the Russian Federation and the State Assembly - El Kurultai of the Altai Republic takes place on June 21-22 in a unique geographical region: Altai is an area of centuries-old fusion and interpenetration of states, civilizations and cultures. This is the historical homeland of the entire Turkic civilization and, to a huge extent, the modern Slavic and Volga peoples have Altai roots. The laying of flowers at the monument to Lev Gumilev in Gorno-Altaisk by forum participants is a very symbolic moment.
As Andrei Belyaninov, the Assembly General Secretary emphasized, Altai is not only a resort and a meeting place for forum participants, it is the basis of the ethnogenesis of modern civilization, which Gumilev studied. The auspices of the forum are consonant with the historical role of the common forerunner of states and peoples: “The Altai vector of Eurasian integration: in the interests of strengthening interethnic and interreligious harmony.” Ivan Belekov, Advisor to the Head of the Altai Republic, member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, People's Writer of the Altai Republic and Candidate of Historical Sciences stated that Altai is a spiritual and civilizational phenomenon. The creator of the theory of ethnogenesis, L. N. Gumilyov, confirmed in his Altai expedition of 1948 the idea that the starting point of the beginning of the history of the Turkic world is located here.
Ivan Belekov’s report “Geopolitical challenges of our time and the civilizational role of Altai in strengthening interethnic and interfaith harmony” develops Gumilev’s theses. Greater Altai is the heart of Eurasia, the birthplace of the Scythians and Ainu, who lived in these areas before the great migration of mixed peoples. Modern Turks, the peoples of the countries of Western Asia, to a large extent also the peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia and Russia, the Karelian-Ugric peoples from Komi to Hungary are from Altai, and this is an open window of opportunity for the unification of Eurasian states and nations.
This is a very important point. For almost the previous eight centuries, all state-forming policies on the continent and in the global community were built mainly around the most primitive, base ideas, such as isolation, segregation of national-ethnic groups, the policy of colonialism and outright fascism. This became a factor in hundreds of wars, splits and disintegration, up to the division of peoples and races into “higher” and “lower”, which ended in the genocide of entire peoples as a product of the ideology and eugenics of the Nazi Axis countries.
On the contrary, the single community of the proto-homeland reintegrates and unites. Co-chairman of the General Council of the Eurasian and African Peoples' Assembly, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Doctor of Philosophy Alexandra Ochirova, in her speech at the forum, presented the report “Humanitarian modernization as an imperative for sustainable development of humanity,” which we will publish separately too.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin said that many of the meanings presented in the forum reports are new to him, and these are vectors of new promising areas of work.
Diplomats and politicians from Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia at the forum sessions made the overall picture of the development of Eurasia very multifaceted and complete. “There may be different configurations of the Altai Forum, but there is an idea of how to combine the potentials of peoples and states in Central Eurasia and throughout Eurasia, and this must be preserved as the core meaning,” emphasized Konstantin Zatulin. The work of the forum continues today and tomorrow in the formats of scientific conferences and round tables, where issues of Eurasian integration, epistemology, culture and politics are discussed.