Olzhas Suleimenov, Kazakh poet:
Kazan has at all times excited the imagination of the steppes by its complicated and bright image. At the beginning of the century the poetry of Gabdulla Tukay was an integral part of this image.
In the XIXth century, when a democratic culture of the Tatar nation was getting stronger, Kazan became one of the places of attraction of Kazakh’s feelings and thoughts. The first works of many Kazakh writers were printed in Kazan. The first book of Abay written in the native language was published in Kazan. The Tatar literature was read in Kazakhstan in the original. And his penetrating and live-giving influence is a natural phenomenon. Recently celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founders of the Kazakh Soviet poetry Saken Seyfullin, Ilyas Dzhapsugurov, Sultanmakhmut Toraygyrov, we emphasized the great influence Tukay had on them, especially at the beginning of their work. They knew Tukay’s poems by heart.
Many of us, including me, could say that in our intellectual and spiritual legacy there’s a part of Tukay and a part of the Tatar culture.