Unesco To Attend 800th Birth Anniversary Celebrations Of Mevlana

PARIS - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to attend the ceremonies to mark the 800th anniversary of birth of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi, the great Anatolian philosopher, poet and the father of the Mevlevi sect, sources said on Saturday.
Sources told A.A correspondent that UNESCO Executive Board, which convened in French capital of Paris today, accepted Turkey's proposal that UNESCO should be associated in 2007 with the 800th anniversary of the birth of Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi.
The proposal would be confirmed by member states during the UNESCO General Assembly due in October, the same sources added.
UNESCO had joined the 100th anniversary of birth of world-famous Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet.
Mevlana who is also known as Rumi, was a philosopher and mystic of Islam, but not a Muslim of the orthodox type. His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth. Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to men of all sects and creeds. His work and thought continue to have universal relevance today.