YEREVAN, MAY 27, ARMENPRESS. The 150th anniversary of birth of renowned Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869 – 1923) was honored in Belarus during a cultural evening titled All-Armenian Poet attended by literary critics and readers at the House of Friendship in Minsk, BelTA reports. Tumanyan, considered to be a national poet, is widely known as the All-Armenian Poet.

Armenian Ambassador to Belarus Armen Ghevondyan and embassy staffers were also in attendance, as well as activists of the House of Friendship organization and members of the Belarus-Armenia Union.

Ambassador Ghevondyan presented the Armenian classical poetry and its significance in world culture.

Inna Ivanova, President of the Belarusian Union of Friendship and Cultural Relations of Foreign States, noted that similar cultural evenings contribute to the development of cultural relations between Armenia and Belarus. “Belarus and Armenia are coherently strengthening cultural cooperation, with literary meetings and poetry recitals aimed at developing these ties,” she said.

Poet Naum Galperovich, Director of the Belarus International Radio and member of the Belarus-Armenia Union, said that Tumanyan’s poetry is close and understandable for the Belarusian people. “These poems reflect universal values, the beauty of the spirit, they tell about emotions and love for the Fatherland,” Galperovich said. The poet also recited certain Tumanyan poems in Belarusian, his own translation.

Galperovich emphasized that most translations of Tumanyan’s work have been done by Russian writers, among whom are Bella Akhmadulina, Alexander Blok, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova - making the Armenian poet’s works accessible for a broad circle of Russian-language readers.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan