A conference was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to mark the 100th anniversary of the First Turkology Congress, which took place on February 26, 1926.

The event was organized by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and the Baku Yunus Emre Institute in the historic building where the congress was originally convened 100 years ago. Numerous scholars from Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan attended the conference. 

Among the speakers at the opening ceremony were Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Dr. Serdar Çam, Deputy Minister of National Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Celile Eren Ökten, Deputy Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan Ferit Jafarov, AK Party Deputy Chairman and Head of Relations with Turkic States Prof. Dr. Kürşad Zorlu, MHP Deputy Chairman Prof. Dr. İlyas Topsakal, Türkiye’s Ambassador to Baku Birol Akgün, President of the Atatürk Supreme Council for Culture, Language and History Prof. Dr. Derya Örs, President of the Yunus Emre Institute Prof. Dr. Abdurrahman Aliy, President of the Turkic Academy Prof. Dr. Şahin Mustafayev, President of the Turkish Language Association Prof. Dr. Osman Mert, and President of ANAS Prof. Dr. İsa Habibbeyli.

Deputy Minister Çam emphasized that the event was significant not only for establishing a link with the past but also for shaping future scholarly efforts.

“Conducting these studies after 100 years demonstrates that our shared historical consciousness will never remain incomplete,” he said.

Deputy Minister Ökten described the First Turkology Congress as a historic milestone that established the institutional foundation of Turkology studies.

“We Must Pass Our History and Culture to Future Generations”

Prof. Kürşad Zorlu conveyed the greetings of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and underlined that 100 years ago scholars from across the Turkic world reached a consensus on adopting a common alphabet.

He noted that the Republic of Türkiye closely followed these developments and that there was intellectual and temporal parallelism between the decisions taken at the congress and those of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Zorlu stressed that the congress left three major legacies: 

• establishing a discipline of mutual understanding among states and societies,

• creating a common alphabet, terminology, and scientific language,

• and transmitting history and culture to future generations.

President of the Turkish Language Association Osman Mert stated: “Today, the seeds sown 100 years ago have grown into a mighty plane tree.” The conference continued with academic presentations and panel discussions.

Anadolu Agency