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On October 19, presentation of 15 thousand books, which were presented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey and ILESAM organization to Azerbaijan, was held at the National Library in association with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Writers Union, ILESAM organization as well as the National Library.

Opening the event, director of the National Library prof. Karim Tahirov welcomed the guests and expressed his deep gratitude to the organizers for that esteemed event. In his speech, prof. Karim Tahirov noted that out of 15 thousand books 2000 copies were donated to the National Library but a very few of them were demonstrated there. He also noted that not only readers of the National library, but also the readers of other public and region libraries of the republic would able to benefit from those books.

Later, First Deputy Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Vagif Aliyev thanked to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, Embassy of Turkey in the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as to the president of ILESAM organization Mehmet Nuri Parmaksiz for that event and noted that such events would be mutually and continuously. Specially emphasizing the quote of the nationwide leader Heydar Aliyev “one nation, two states”, Mr. Vagif Aliyev said that both cultural and literary relations between the two countries would further develop and be eternal. He also said that those books would be presented to other public and region libraries of the republic and would contribute to the further development of our students and researches.

Gunay Afandiyeva, President of International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, spoke about the richness of material and cultural heritage of the Turkic world, ancient written and oral literature samples of Turkic-speaking peoples, their folklore and traditions. She also mentioned that distribution of 15 thousand books among the libraries was a worthy step and wished such projects to be sustainable. During the event, GunayAfandiyeva was awarded a medal for her indispensable services by the president of ILESAM organization.

Dr. Irfan Chiftchi, Adviser on Culture of the Embassy of Turkey to the Republic of Azerbaijan expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the National Library and participants of the event, and noted that those two fraternal countries have the same historical and cultural roots.

In his speech, the president of ILESAM – Professional Union of Scientific and Literary Work Owners of Turkey poet Mehmet Nuri Parmaksiz spoke about literary relations between those fraternal countries, the works done in the field of promoting Azerbaijani literature in Turkey and Turkish literature in Azerbaijan, as well as about translating Azerbaijani writers’ works into Turkish.

Head of Turkic Culture Center of ASPU prof. Elman Guliyev, Head of Turkology Chair of BSU prof. Ramiz Asker, Head of YunisEmre Institute Dr. Jihan Ozdemir, Head of ILESAM-Azerbaijan organization and press secretary of Azerbaijan Writers Union KhayalRza took part in the event.

The event was also attended by the representatives of ILESAM invited from Turkey, as well as TRT soloist Mehmet Ozkaya and his choral band.