The opening ceremony of the 1st International Theater Festival of the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) has been held in Baku at the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theater.

The festival marks the 100th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, declaration of Shusha as the Cultural capital of the Turkic World for 2023, as well as the 150th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s National Theater, and the 30th anniversary of TÜRKSOY.

In his opening remark, Minister of Culture Adil Karimli said that after the declaration of Shusha as the Cultural capital of the Turkic World for 2023, a number of events have been held throughout Azerbaijan and abroad, adding that the 1st International TURKSOY Theater Festival is a continuation of this series.

Highlighting the importance of the festival, TURKSOY Secretary General Sultan Raev noted that the main goal of the event is to get the Turkic nations know each other more closely.

The festival brought together troupes of the Samarkand Musical and Drama Theater (Uzbekistan), Issyk-Kul Musical Drama Theater named after Kasymaly Jantoshev (Kyrgyzstan), Turkestan Musical and Drama Theater (Kazakhstan), Istanbul State Theater (Türkiye), and Turkmenistan Magtymguly National Music and Drama Theater.

The speakers noted that as part of the event, the 9th meeting of the council of directors of state theaters of TURKSOY member states was held in Azerbaijan’s city of Shusha.

Then, the play "Karabakhnama" based on Ilyas Efendiyev's play “The Ruler and His Daughter" was performed.