A solemn forum entitled “Ancient Anau – the Cultural Centre of the Turkic World” took place at the House of Culture in Anau. It was held to fulfil the instructions of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, given at the sitting of the Cabinet of Ministers on December 15, to organise festive events marking the status of Anau as the 2024 Cultural Capital of the Turkish World.

Those speaking at the forum reminded those present about the decision of the 39th Meeting of the Permanent Council of TURKSOY, which took place in Bursa (Türkiye) on November 5 last year, to select Anau as the 2024 Cultural Capital of the Turkic World. It is symbolic that at the same meeting, 2024 was declared the Year of the great poet and thinker Magtymguly. On December 10, the moving symbol of the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World, which was put on public display by the participants of the forum in Anau, was handed over to the representatives of Turkmenistan at a solemn ceremony in the city of Shusha, Republic of Azerbaijan.