President Islam Karimov’s Greeting Speech at the Navruz Central Festive Event

Dear compatriots!

Distinguished guests!

These brightest days, when the nature awakens, the long-expected Navruz – loved by all of us – has come to our blessed land, the native Uzbekistan, with the arrival of spring.

It gives me an immense pleasure, from the bottom of my heart, to sincerely congratulate you, my dear compatriots and our whole nation, on this most ancient and the noblest holiday which is as a symbol of spring, renewal and joy, and express my highest respect and kindest wishes to you all.

Dear friends!

There are myriads of splendid and brilliant holidays. Yet Navruz indisputably stands special amongst them, distinct with its greatest age and resplendent beauty, deepest meaning and substance, reflecting the unique identity and mentality of our people.

And it is for this very reason that this great festival – an embodiment of rebirth and rejuvenation – is greeted in each household and each family with widely open hearts and the most cherished dreams and aspirations, by saying, «Navruz, welcome to our land! May peace and prosperity accompany you!»

Indeed, the holiday of Navruz that emerged millennia ago in the Avesto era is truly national for our people and is looked forward by every one of us. It is the most adored festival that signifies the start of the new year by the Oriental calendar. Navruz is dear to us because it brings delight and bliss to each and every home, it helps to carefully preserve and perpetuate the ages-old traditions and values of our nation.

With the arrival of warm spring days, our ancestors and forefathers used to commence field works, sow the seeds, and organize sayils (folk festivities) to celebrate Navruz on the spaces covered with green shroud and with a sense of thankfulness. For us, it is not merely a far away history, but also the life itself, which fills our current days with light, benevolence and grace, and which affords us an even greater festive mood.

In these very days the whole neighborhood – mahalla dwellers – get together when women defy the nights and tirelessly cook such delicate and revitalizing victuals as sumalak, khalim, kuk-somsa and other meals with kind intentions, and treat with them their families and friends and neighbors. And, seeing this, we get convinced time and again that the unique customs and traditions we have inherited from our ancestors remain unbroken over centuries and make us feel as an inalienable part of the nature that surrounds us.

It is in this fascinating season that people display exceptional compassion and generosity toward each other, extend a gratuitous help to the sick and all who need assistance, seek blessings from those of esteemed age, while these unique qualities undoubtedly ennoble the human soul and make us more gracious and sensitive and responsive.

Another trait that makes Navruz distinct is that it appeals for peace and prosperity in each home, in each country and the entire world.

Wrongs and grievances are forgotten, quarrels and wars are ceased during this holiday, while harmony, cohesion and humanism prevail in the society.

Dear compatriots!

When we speak of this, it should be noted that the vital ideas, spirit and philosophy of the Navruz urge us to address the currently mounting confrontations, conflicts and wars in the world with solely political and peaceful means. And this confirms again the inseparable bonds between the essence of Navruz and the most imperative and pressing issues of the contemporary times.

Our nation, the people of Uzbekistan, aspires first and foremost for peace and harmony, and today this idea has been penetrating deep the consciousness of our fellow countrymen and women. This approach’s particular urgency is in the fact that the current extremely intricate and restless times require that every one of us be even more vigilant and considerate, soberly evaluate everything taking place around us, live in friendship and harmony with the whole world in the name of cementing the peaceful and affluent life and the clear sky above our Motherland.

Allow me to take this opportunity to greet on behalf of all our people and express deep respect and gratitude to all the guests from abroad, representatives of embassies of foreign nations and international organizations present here at this festive occasion, and to extend wishes of peace, prosperity and well-being to the peoples of those countries.

Today, appealing to the young men and women gathered here at this square, and the entire youth of Uzbekistan in their person, the generation that has been entering life with great hopes and confidence in the future, a generation with independent thinking and mindset, and which commands modern knowledge and is capable of assuming the responsibility for the future of the Motherland, I would like to say it once again that we have never been inferior to anyone in anything and we never are going to be so!

We will achieve our high goals for sure!

Dear compatriots!

By hugging you all in my mind, I congratulate you again on this magnificent and inimitable holiday and extend my kindest wishes to you from the bottom of my heart.

May Navruz bring peace, happiness and prosperity to every family, every home, and our country as a whole!

May all our gracious hopes and aspirations come true, may our native Uzbekistan do well and flourish!

Happy Navruz, dear friends!