Abdulaziz Kamilov offers condolences on death of Ilsa Sirtautas

Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov expressed his condolences on the death of Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association Vice-President, Professor Ilsa Sirtautas.

“In Uzbekistan, the report on the death of a 92-year-old founder and Vice-President of the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association Ilsa Sirtautas was accepted with deep grief,” the minister said.

It should be noted that from the first days of Uzbekistan’s independence, Ilsa Sirtautas made a valuable contribution to the establishment of scientific, academic, cultural and humanitarian ties with the United States, and helped popularize the Uzbek language and literature in America.

She was the initiator of increasing educational exchanges between the University of Washington and higher educational institutions of Uzbekistan. In 2013, she established the scholarship program named after I. Sirtautas on the regular organization of scientific and educational trips of undergraduates of the University of Washington to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries.

As one of the leaders of the Association, she was also among the founders of the Tashkent Park in Seattle.

“In connection with this loss, we offer our deep and sincere condolences to all members of the Association, as well as to close relatives of Ilsa Sirtautas. She will always remain in our memory as an outstanding connoisseur of history, culture, traditions, customs and peculiarities of the Uzbek people, who made an invaluable contribution to laying the foundations and strengthening the bonds of mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation between the peoples of Uzbekistan and the United States,” Abdulaziz Kamilov said.