CULTURE
With such a conclusion comes to an end the implementation of the project ‘Diplomatic institutions in the nation-building: the stages of development and their specificity in the Middle Ages.’ These researches the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences conducted for three years within the science and technology programs and academic grant of the Coordinating Committee for Development of Science and Technology. Thanks to the scholars the most complete picture of the development of the diplomatic skills of the peoples of Central Asia emerged.
“It is now foreign embassies operate freely in the Central Asian states, and their activity is complied with international law. But it was not always. History knows the time when the work of diplomats was very dangerous, and the ambassador was obliged to observe the traditions and customs of the country in which he was sent,” tells the Candidate of History, a member of the research team, Husniddin Mamadaliev. “During the research we have studied the manuscript sources and correspondence of rulers stored in the archives and libraries of Uzbekistan, Russia, China, India, England and Germany. This helped us to discover many previously unknown facts, and for the first time to put them into use.”
A huge work is done, covering the little-known pages of the development of diplomatic skills in Central Asia. Based on materials in Sogd language from the mountain of Mug, wall paintings and numismatics, as well as the Chinese annals and chronicles, the nature of the international relations of the region from the 5th to the first half of the 8th century was revealed. Arab and Persian sources have allowed to identify the main aspects of the development of diplomatic institutions of the states of Samanids, Karakhanids, Karakhitans and Khorazmshahs within the 9th – 12th centuries. The development of ambassadorial relations in the states of Amir Temur and the Temurids has been traced. The requirements for the personal characters of ambassadors in Bukhoro Emirate, Khiva and Quqon Khanates have been analyzed. For the first time scholars have described the diplomatic traditions of meeting of ambassadors, business meetings, documenting the results of the negotiations, and much more.
“Within the project we for the first time have collected and studied in detail the material about the features of diplomacy in the Karakhitan Empire, which ruled in Central Asia about a hundred years. The dynasty established authority on the territory of Central Asia and built a strong and advanced state, which was based on Chinese traditions and customs,” says the senior researcher Dilnoza Duturaeva. “Studies turned interesting because this period is still poorly known – almost no documents. Information could be picked up only from sources on other countries that had diplomatic ties with this mysterious state.”
…What is the diplomacy of the future? Time will show. Today, only one thing could be asserted, in Uzbekistan it will be created by specialists who better know the history and traditions. The materials obtained within the project ‘Diplomatic institutions in nation-building: development stages and their peculiarities in the Middle Ages’ have already laid the foundation for new training aids and textbooks used by students of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, as well as the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies and other education institutions training diplomats.
«Uzbekistan Today» newspaper
