THE TURKIC CULTURE AND HERITAGE FOUNDATION PRESENTED THE LANDMARK MONOGRAPH “THE FIRST TURKOLOGICAL CONGRESS” AS PART OF TURKIC WORLD WEEK IN AZERBAIJAN

On June 30, 2026, the headquarters of the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation hosted the presentation of the scholarly monograph “The First Turkological Congress” as part of Turkic World Week. The publication, authored by Academician Nizami Jafarov, Professor Mahira Huseynova, and Doctor of Philology Aysel Garibli, was published by the Foundation in Azerbaijani, Kazakh, and Russian.

It should be noted that Turkic World Week is being held pursuant to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, dated 22 October 2025, "On the Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the First Turkological Congress". Furthermore, the organization of the series of events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the First Turkological Congress was unanimously endorsed by the Heads of the Turkic States during the 12th Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), held on 7 October 2025 in Gabala, Republic of Azerbaijan.

The monograph comprehensively examines the historical mission of the First Turkological Congress, held in Baku in 1926, its outstanding contribution to the scientific and cultural development of the Turkic peoples, and provides an in-depth analysis of issues related to ethnography, orthography, terminology, the alphabet, language, and literature.

The official part of the event was opened by the President of the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, Professor Aktoty Raimkulova. In her remarks, she emphasized that the First Turkological Congress occupies a unique place in the shared scientific and cultural memory of the Turkic peoples, while the presented monograph constitutes a fundamental scholarly work reflecting the development of common Turkic academic thought and the ideas that continue to strengthen the unity and integration of the Turkic World. 

The event continued with remarks by Mr. Malik Otarbayev, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Mr. Orkhan Fikratoghlu, Advisor to the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Honoured Art Worker; Professor Maharram Mammadov, Dean of the Faculty of Turkology at Baku State University; Professor Tofiq Hajiyev, Head of the Department of Azerbaijani Linguistics at Baku State University; and Azer Turan, Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Ədəbiyyat qəzeti.

Concluding the official programme, the authors of the monograph, Academician Nizami Jafarov, Director of the Atatürk Center in Azerbaijan; Professor Mahira Huseynova, Doctor of Philology; and Aysel Garibli, Doctor of Philology noted that the publication contributes to preserving historical memory, strengthening shared spiritual values, and fostering academic cooperation across the Turkic World. They also shared a number of remarkable historical facts presented in the book with the participants.  

The artistic programme opened with a performance of the song Land of Fire by young performer Atilla Garib. It was followed by a mugham performance by Yusif Jafarbayli, finalist of the IX Mugham Television Competition and recipient of the "Young Person of the Year" Award, accompanied by Sakhavat Mammadov (tar), Mihir Guliyev (kamancha), and Logman Mammadov (nagara).

It is worth noting that the monograph had previously been presented on May 22, 2026 at the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan during the presentation of the Foundation's fundamental scholarly publications dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the First Baku Turkological Congress.