August 12, 2017 saw a meeting Anatoliy Bibilov, the President of the Republic of South Ossetia, and Vyacheslav Bitarov, the Head of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, with the participants of Ethnolager 2017, a summer cultural and educational course, organized in framework of the international project “Trace of the Alans”. Dmitriy Medoev, the South Ossetian Foreign Minister, participated in the meeting, which was organized in the village of Nar.
The leaders of the Republics welcomed the guests.
In particular Anatoliy Bibilov noted that he is pleased to see the descendants of the Alans in their homeland.
“The more often we meet and contact with each other, the stronger our historic, spiritual and cultural ties would become. We should remember, protect and pass on to further generations those common things that we received from our ancestors – language, culture and traditions”, said the President.
In his turn Vyacheslav Bitarov emphasized the symbolic character of the meeting, organized in the village of Nar, the Motherland of Kosta Khetagurov, and marked that the project provides the Ossetians, who due to various reasons had found themselves far away from the land of their ancestors, with the opportunity to touch their roots and get more familiar with the Ossetian culture.
Representatives of the expats communities expressed gratitude to Heads of the Republics and asked questions of interest. Later the participants exchanged memorable gifts.
“Trace of the Alans” project was launched by the Ministry of National Relations of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania in framework of the program entitled “Interaction with compatriots living abroad” and is organized for the 3rd time. 36 representatives form 10 countries have been participating in the project this year.
The Republic of South Ossetia is actively engaged in the program. The delegates of the Ethnolager 2017 will stay in the Republic on August 12-14, 2017. The agenda of the stay of the participants in South Ossetia includes various events.
Tskhinval, August 12, 2017