From October 31 to November 4, Azerbaijan's Baku and Shusha will host the 1st TURKSOY International Theater Festival.

The theater festival is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev and the announcement of the city of Shusha as the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World 2023, Azernews reports.

The festival also marks the 150th anniversary of the Azerbaijani professional national theater and the 30th anniversary of TURKSOY (International Organization of Turkic Culture).

Along with Azerbaijani theaters, theater groups from other TURKSOY member countries - Samarkand Music and Drama Theater (Uzbekistan), Issyk-Kul Music and Drama Theater named after Kasymaly Jantoshev (Kyrgyzstan), Turkestan Music and Drama Theater (Kazakhstan) , Istanbul State Theater (Turkiye), Music and Drama Theater named after Magtymguly (Turkmenistan) will take part in the festival.

Within the festival, well-known theater figures of the Turkic world will discuss the development of the theater art

As part of the festival, the 9th meeting of the Council of Heads of TURKSOY State Theaters will take place in the city of Shusha.

Note that TURKSOY has its roots in meetings during 1992 in Baku and Istanbul, where the ministers of culture from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkiye, and Turkmenistan declared their commitment to cooperate in a joint cultural framework.

The International Organization of Turkic Culture TURKSOY is the UNESCO of the Turkic World and was established in 1993 upon signature of its founding agreement by the Ministers of Culture of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Turkiye.