«Acquaintance with the Caucasus»: MGIMO — KBSU — Istanbul

On August 27, the Russian Society for Education, Cultural and Business Cooperation in Istanbul presented a project of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations — the International Youth Forum «Acquaintance with the Russian Caucasus», which in April 2019 was held on the platform of the Kabardino-Balkarian University named after H. M. Berbekov.

The presentation was attended by the author of the project, a member of the State Duma’s expert advisory council for CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots, a teacher at MGIMO and KBSU Aslan Kaskulov and a teacher at the Department of Political Theory Boris Ananiev. Also, in the format of a video conference, the meeting was attended by Muslim Tamazov, students and the head of the KBSU Social and Humanitarian Institute, foreign students of MGIMO who previously took part in the project, as well as students of the North Caucasus Federal University, which will become the venue for the IV forum of the same name.

Within the framework of the online meeting, the methods and specifics of Russian-Turkish cooperation, taking into account the current international situation, the possibility of new international projects were discussed. The main result of the presentation was an agreement according to which 10 students from leading universities and public organizations of the Republic of Turkey will take part in the III International Youth Forum «Acquaintance with the Russian Caucasus» in October.

The project «Acquaintance with the Russian Caucasus» is aimed at expanding and improving the mechanisms of international cooperation through youth and student projects, developing multilateral joint projects in the field of youth policy, science and education.

We organized this project in order to attract as many foreign representatives as possible in order to acquaint with the Russian Caucasus, erase all the prevailing negative stereotypes and show them what is really happening here, how students in the Caucasus study and are friends, representatives of different nationalities,
— commented on the goals and objectives of the project Aslan Kaskulov

That is why the project provides an opportunity for students from different countries of the world to personally visit the regions of the Russian Caucasus, exchange experience with representatives of leading regional universities and ask questions to experts, as well as get acquainted with the sights, culture and life of the region.

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The forum is being held with the information support of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Rethinking Russia International Analytical Center. In 2020, the project «Acquaintance with the Russian Caucasus» won the All-Russian competition of youth projects among individuals of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh). The project was organized on the initiative of Ya.I. Vaslavsky and is supported by the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation A.Zh. Bifova.

The members of the organizing committee express special gratitude to the staff of the Coordination Council of organizations of Russian compatriots in Turkey Marina Sorokina and Larisa Lutkova, the Russian Society for Education, Cultural and Business Cooperation in Istanbul, Elena Karal, and the Russian Youth Association of Istanbul, Anna Fedorova for active assistance in the preparation and conduct of the event.