Turkish Ministry Of Culture & Tourism Proposes Unesco To Declare 2007 As Year Of Mevlana

KONYA (AA) - Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism proposed the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to declare 2007 as the ''World Year of Mevlana''.
     Ministry Undersecretary Prof. Dr. Mustafa Isen told the A.A on Thursday that the 800th anniversary of birth of Jalal ud-din Rumi, known as Mevlana, would be celebrated in 2007.
     ''We have proposed UNESCO to declare 2007 as the World Year of Mevlana. Many countries extended support to our proposal. We also proposed UNESCO to include Mevlevi Order in its list of non-concrete cultural heritage,'' Isen added.
     Mevlana, devoted himself to the pursuit of Sufi mysticism, in which area he is justly regarded as a supreme master. He was the spiritual founder of the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes.
     His most important work, composed during the last ten years of his life, was the Mathnawi-i Manawi. Second to this is the Diwan-i Shams-i Tabriz, a collection of lyrics (ghazals) dedicated to his spiritual guide Shamsuddin of Tabriz.
     His main subject is the relationship between man and God on the one hand, and between man and man, on the other. He apparently believed in Pantheism and portrayed the various stages of man's evolution in his journey towards the Ultimate.
     (UK-MS)
2005-05-12