The award ceremony for the Ali Shir Nava'i International Award took place as part of the informal summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, held in Hungary. The esteemed accolade for "Contribution to the Unity of the Turkic World" has been awarded to the world-renowned Turkish scientist and Nobel laureate, Aziz Sancar.
The award was presented to Aziz Sancar by President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan. In his address, Japarov emphasised Sancar as “a figure who forges bridges between civilisations through science." Aziz Sancar is renowned for his pioneering studies in DNA repair and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2015 for his fundamental research in this field. Sancar has authored more than 400 scientific articles and 33 books.
It is worth noting that the international award named after Ali Shir Nava'i was first presented in 2022, posthumously, to the great figure of Kyrgyz literature, Chinghiz Aitmatov.