Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Nigar Babakhanova. International Relations of the Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli with UNESCO // J. of “Manuscripts Don’t Burn". Special issue, 2019, pp. 109-113. Nigar Babakhanova Ph.D in History Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli, ANAS 26 Istiglaliyat Street, Baku E-mail: [email protected] INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF MANUSCRIPTS NAMED AFTER MUHAMMAD FUZULI WITH UNESCO Key words: manuscripts, UNESCO, international relations, cultural heritage Scientific-cultural cooperation, including exchange of knowledge, books and informa- tion in intergovernmental international relations is an integral part of international relations, and the successful foreign politics of any government and its position in the international arena have a direct impact on the scientific cooperation that this government’s scientific-cul- tural institutions implement. The role of international organizations at all stages of society’s development is undeniable. The development of cooperation relations between governments historically has led to appearance of international organizations. And at the present time, their role continuously increases. The key goal of these organizations is to develop cooperation bet- ween countries; draft relevant projects for mutually interesting issues; enhance the coopera- tion of nations in education, science and culture, irrespective of race, sex, language and relig- ion; and ensure strengthening of peace and security between these relations. The activity of UNESCO is focused on providing assistance to projects for practical im- provement of education standards globally; knowledge exchange; and international coopera- tion in science, education and culture. The organization tries to enhance scales and improve the quality of Mass Media, as well as ensure better living conditions through scientific re- searches and cooperation all over the world. UNESCO, which is a specialized UN institute, is the largest global intergovernmental forum of cooperation in the spheres of education, science, culture, information and communi- cation in the world. The organization was established on November 16, 1945 and the head- quarter of the organization was situated in France’s capital city Paris. At the present time, UNESCO consists of 195 countries and 10 Associative Members. After restoring its independence, the Republic of Azerbaijan was taken as a member to UNESCO on June 3, 1992. In December 1993, Azerbaijan met with UNESCO’s General Di- rector Federico Mayor within the framework of the official visit of President Heydar Aliyev to the Republic of France. The relations between Azerbaijan and UNESCO, which is the UN organization for science, education and culture, to maintain and promote its rich cultural heritage were very efficient in the previous period. According to Article 7 of the Charter of 109 Journal of “Manuscripts don’t burn” / Special issue, 2019 UNESCO, which is the UN Organization for Education, Science and Culture, Member-States shall take relevant measures to coordinate the activity of institutions engaging in education, science and culture with the work of UNESO by establishing firstly a National Commission. Consequently, necessary steps were taken for the establishment of the National Commission for UNESCO of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and according to the Executive Order dated Feb- ruary 21, 1994 of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, the National Commission for UNESCO of the Republic of Azerbaijan under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan was established. And in 1996, a cooperation memorandum was signed between UNESCO and Azerbaijan. Since that time, our relations with UN are enhanced. On August 13, 2004, Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, the President of the Foundation of Heydar Aliyev was rewarded with the title of UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for her tireless efforts to preserve and develop the verbal folklore and musical heritage of Azerbaijan. And after that, the relations between this organization and Azerbaijan started to further develop. Until now, important documents were signed and actions were taken to develop the co- operation with UNESCO in the spheres of science, education and culture. UNESCO conducts scientific researches, training of personnel, and flow, transfer and exchange of knowledge through trainings in compliance with relevant normative acts. In 1998-1999, this UN organi- zation for education, science and cultural issues (UNESCO) offered a new initiative and de- veloped a specific new program titled the World Memory to preserve rare examples of the documented heritage. The Global Heritage List of UNESCO includes a Magazine, summary of documents, manuscripts, verbal heritages, audio-visual materials, librarian property and invaluable archives. This list consists of the heritage of documents, which is recognized by UN as the property of global importance. There are also samples for presentation of the Member-States themselves and for recording and preserving their national and local heritages within it. The organization invites all the Member-States to create the register of their docu- mented heritages. These registers develop progressively in parallel to the Global List thanks to the continuous work of the National Committee for the World Memory. The official cooperation of the Institute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan National Acad- emy of Sciences, named after Muhammad Fuzuli with UNESCO has started since 2002. That year Ramiz Aboutalibov, the General Secretary of the Azerbaijan-France Friendship Society sent a letter to Mahmud Karimov, who was the President of ANAS that time, and informed him of the UNESCO Program titled Global Memory, which was available in various places of the world since 1992 and informed him that at that time, the World Memory Register included 68 collections from 33 countries. The General Secretary, by referring to the letter sent to him by Mr. Abdoul Vahid Khan, UNESCO Deputy General Director for Communication and In- formation, recommended him to establish a National Committee for the World Memory and invited him to present the documented heritage examples of global importance. Afterward, a close cooperation was established between the Institute and the UNESCO Committee and three medieval Azerbaijani manuscripts about the history of medicine and pharmacology, be- ing maintained at the Institute, were presented. At the session dated June 13-17, 2005 of the International Commission for UNESCO Program of World Memory, three medieval Azer- baijani manuscripts about the history of medicine and pharmacology, offered from the collec- tion of the Institute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, named after Muhammad Fuzuli, were included in the Word Memory Register. One of the manuscripts included in 2005 is Volume 13 of 30-Volume work about medi- cine and surgery of great Arabian scientist Aboulgasim Zahravi who lived in Spain in Cor- dova Kalifate in the 10-11th centuries, titled Al-Magalatus-Salasin (About Surgery and Surgi- cal Tools), which is the most valuable and interesting part of this encyclopedic work. In the book, the pictures of about 200 surgical tools were provided and the use of them was ex- plained. The Manuscript consisting of 156 pages was copied out through the Naskh script 110 Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences style with the black mascara in the 12th century. The surgical tools given in the book were drawn clearly. Another manuscript of the Institute – the manuscript of Volume 2 of the work titled Al- Ganun fit-Tibb (Medicine Rules) of great Eastern scientist Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna) draws attention with its antiquity and perfectness. The work was copied out 106 years after the death of the author in 537 of the hegira calendar (or 1143 of the current calendar. In this sense, this copy of the manuscript is one of the most reliable copies. The Medical Rules was regarded as the most perfect and unique encyclopedic work written about the medicine in the medieval period both in the West and East. After the translation of this work from Arabic into Latin in the 12th century by Jerard of Cremona (1140-1187), it had been regarded as the best textbook on the medicine at European Universities for centuries. The book had gained such a fame that genius painter and sculptor Michelangelo said the followings about it: ‘It is better to go wrong by following Avicenna than achieving success by following others.’ The work titled Zahireyi-Nizamshahi of Roustam Jurjani, a scientist of the 12th century is about the medicine and pharmacology. It is supposed that it was copied out in the 13th cen- tury. The manuscript consists of 487 pages. It was copied out with the blank ink through the fine and elegant Nastalig script style. The 1st page of the manuscript was decorated with the gilt and ornaments. The full text of the manuscript was bordered with gilded frames. The manuscript version of Roustam Jurjani’s work titled Zahireyi-Nizamshahi was not found in another place of the world, except the ANAS Institute of Manuscripts named Muhammad Fuzuli. At the present time, these manuscripts are preserved at the fund of ANAS Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli. Furthermore, at that time, two UNESCO representatives - Ms. Ann Brisse, a professor of Ottawa University and Herr Gerhard Budin, a terminology expert from Vienne visited the Institute of Manuscripts and after getting familiar with the