Konya’s Mayor, Tahir Akyürek, said in his statement:  “After eight-hundred years have passed since his birth, the interest in Hazrat Mawlana and his works continues and particularly in Europe his books and the books written about him are known as best sellers.  The reason behind this great interest is Hazrat Mawlana’s love which focuses on the love of humanity and because Hazrat Mawlana’s teachings give us one of the most needed messages of modern times, that of “peace”.  So, in the hope of reaching a wider range of people and to help to contribute to world peace by sharing his messages, we have decided to publish translations of the most famous work of Rumi, the Mathnawi, into different languages.”

The Mathnawi translated into Greek

Konya’s Mayor, Akyürek, stated:  “By making the translation of the Mathnawi, we provide an important cultural service helping people to understand Rumi more easily both domestically and abroad.” 

He also said:  “So far, we have translated the Mathnawi into seventeen languages including:  Turkish, English, Italian, Farsi, German, Urdu, French, Spanish, Turkmen, Arabic, Albanian, Swedish, Japanese, Bosnian, Flemish, Uzbek and Tajik.  Most recently, Chinese, Kazakh and Greek translations were also completed.  Translations into these languages will be published by the end of the month.  Also, our experts have been working on the Korean and Azerbaijani Turkish translations of the Mathnawi.”

Akyürek went on to explain that the Mathnawi translations are being done by experts in the field and that the translation projects are started only after first trying them out for awhile to first be sure they are skilled enough, and sometimes they gather two…other times five or even six experts for each project.

Tahir Akyürek said the Mathnawis that they publish are small, portable-sized books that can be easily carried in small purses or handbags.

He also added: “The Mathnawi translations that we have been publishing have been given as gifts to the foreign guests of the President, the Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The Mathnawi has been an important gift at international government meetings.  We also send copies of the Mathnawi to important people worldwide, such as the king of Japan, the queen of Spain, and Pope Benedict the 16^th.”

Translated by Semazen.net