Days of Azerbaijani Culture held within int’l Dede Gorgud festival
By Nigar Orujova
Days of Azerbaijani Culture were held within the framework of the 19th International Culture and Art Festival Dede Gorgud, which took place in the Turkish Bayburt city from July 3 through July 7, according to the public association assisting cultural heritage studies, Miras.
This year the festival brings together participants from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia.
The event is organized with the assistance of the Chairwoman of the Public Association "Institute of International Studies of Eurasia," MP Ganira Pashayeva, the Center for Education, Science and Culture of Bayburt and Miras.
The Days of Culture opened at the Bayburt Culture Center with an exhibition of young Azerbaijani artists, and research conference "Turkey-Azerbaijan relations and Dede Gorgud".
Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Writers Union Ahmet Fidan made opening remarks at the conference. He spoke about the relations between the two brotherly nations.
Other speakers included well-known science figures of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Italy -- Kamil Ibrahimov, Abbas Seyidov, Shikar Gasimov, Nazilya Abdullazade, Fariz Khalili, Dursun Ali Amir, and Luigi Skrinzi.
The event was followed by a concert featuring Azerbaijani folk music.
The large Azerbaijani delegation presents at the festival a photo exhibition called "Azerbaijan observations of Turkish artist and photographer Zejnel Ozturk and an exhibition of young Azerbaijani artists and sculptors, including Aydin Askerov, Farida Mirzayeva, Anar Huseynzade, Bakhtiyar Yusubov, Anar Ganbarli, Fakhri Abbasov, Mammad Rashidov, and Vugar Gurbanov.
The festival, held since 1995, brings together representatives of culture, art, science and politics of Turkic-speaking countries, as well as representatives of the Turkic-speaking communities from a number of countries.
The festival includes exhibitions of artwork and photography, performances of folk bands from different countries, various events and stage performances.
The Book of Dede Gorgud is a heroic epic poem of the Oghuz - a Turkic tribal group who were the ancestors of the Azerbaijanis, Turks, Turkmens and the Gagauz. In terms of its historical and cultural significance, this saga is a grand testament to the culture of the Turkic world of ancient and medieval times.
The character of Dada Gorgud is at the center of the book. He is the book's narrator and also one of its main characters. As a storyteller, he seems to have lived longer than many of the people who are protagonists in his story. His most important function is at the end of each story where he makes a moral statement to summarize the plot.