585th Anniversary Of Alisher Navoi: The Making Of A Literary And Moral Civilization – OpEd

This February 9 of 2026 marked the 585th anniversary of the birth of Alisher Navoi, a poet, thinker, and statesman whose life reshaped the cultural and literary history of Central Asia and beyond. Recognized as the founder of classical Turkic literature, Navoi demonstrated that the Turkic language could stand alongside Persian in its capacity for profound thought, philosophy, and artistic expression. Beyond literature, he was a public servant, a patron of the arts, and a moral voice of his era.