Teachers of the Department of the Middle East and South Asia gave an interview to the Iranian news agency Mehr

Teachers of the Department of the Middle East and South Asia Boranbayeva A.Zh. and Kambarbekova G.A. during a business trip to Iran from March 14 to 21, 2024, gave an interview to the Mehr news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Boranbayeva A.Zh., in her interview, noting that Nauryz is celebrated as an official holiday in Kazakhstan, said that Iranians and Kazakhs have a lot in common in the ceremonies of celebrating this holiday, in particular, for Kazakhs the number 7 is sacred, therefore, a special dish is prepared for Nauryz from 7 different grains, and Kazakhs perform the rite of “Korisu” (“The Day of the meeting”) in Nauryz, and they try to forget about all old grievances in the new year. Kambarbekova G.A. said in her interview that before the October Revolution, Persian was taught in madrasas in Central Asia along with Arabic, but now Russian has taken their place. She noted that the Nauryz holiday is of special importance for Kazakhstan with a cold winter, the arrival of spring after six months of winter brings special joy to the Kazakh people, and in the Kazakh calendar the month of March is called Nauryz. She also noted that currently there are very few students studying in Persian at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, where she works, and that Kazakh youth do not know that we have common values with the country of Iran.