Cultural festival celebrates shared Turkmen heritage between Iraq and Azerbaijan

NINEVE, September 30 — Intellectuals from Iraq and Azerbaijan celebrated the release of a book authored by 14 researchers from both countries, highlighting the cultural commonalities of the Turkmen community. The celebration took place during an artistic festival held in the district of Tal Afar.

The Tal Afar Cultural Festival featured the presentation of the book titled “Turkmens of Iraq and Azerbaijan: Sons of a Shared Culture,” along with a photography exhibition, screenings of two documentary films, as well as speeches, poems, and musical performances.

The festival, held at the Youth Forum Hall in the Military neighborhood, was attended by local officials, tribal leaders, scholars, poets, and dignitaries. In their speeches, they emphasized the importance of cultural kinship between Turkmen communities in Iraq and Azerbaijan.

Chingiz Asgarov, the President of the International Eurasian Association in Azerbaijan, stated to Network 964:

“We came to Tal Afar to present a book compiled by a group of Iraqi and Azerbaijani researchers about the history of Turkmen people and their cultural, civilizational, and traditional commonalities.”

“The book, written in both Arabic and Azerbaijani, includes chapters on various Turkmen cities in Iraq. It was co-authored by six researchers from Azerbaijan and eight from Iraq.”

“It is noteworthy that Tal Afar is prominently featured in the book, with a chapter authored by Turkmen researcher Jaafar Al-Afari.”

“We are very pleased with this festival and look forward to further steps in enhancing cultural relations among the people of the same ethnicity, wherever they may be.”