The 36th Term Meeting of the Permanent Council of TURKSOY was held in the city of Kastamonu in Turkey. The meeting which took place in the historical “Kurşunlu Han” building gathered ministers of culture of TURKSOY member countries along with representatives of international organizations who discussed major issues regarding culture and art in the Turkic World in 2019.

The meeting coordinated by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey Mehmet Nuri Ersoy gathered  TURKSOY Secretary General  Ambassador  Dusen Kasseinov, the Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic Baktybek Sekimov, the Deputy Minister of Culture of Turkmenistan Nursahet Shirimov, Mrs. Günay Aliyeva from the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, Mrs. Şehbal Hamzaoğlu from the Ministry of National Education  and Culture of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Şehbal Hamzaoğlu, the Chief of the Administration of Culture and Tourism Affairs of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (Moldova) Marina Semenova, the Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev, the President of the Turkic Academy Darkhan Kydyrali, the Secretary General of TURK-Pa Altynbek Mamayusupov, the Governor of Kastamonu Yaşar Karadeniz, the Mayor of Kastamonu Tahsin Babaş, the Mayor of the Municipality of Osh in Kyrgyzstan Taalaybek Sarybashev and the Deputy Secretary General of TURKSOY  Prof. Dr. Fırat Purtaş as well as  representatives of various institutions and organizations along with journalists.

One of the main items of the  agenda of the meeting was the determination of illustrious personalities of the Turkic World to be commemorated in 2019. As a matter of fact, TURKSOY annually declares commemorative years to pay tribute to the legacy of illustrious artists, scholars and intellectuals of the Turkic World and introduce it to the people on a global scale while also transmitting it to future generations.

Upon decision of the 36th Term Meeting of the Permanent Council of TURKSOY, the year 2019 has been dedicated to the commemoration of the  650th Anniversary of the birthday of the Azerbaijani poet Imadeddin Nesimi and the 125th Anniversary of the birthday of the famous minstrel Aşık Veysel.

Pursuant to the unanimous decision of the Permanent Council of TURKSOY, a series of events and activities to be held throughout the year 2019 to commemorate these illustrious personalities in the Turkic World has been planned.

TURKSOY has been declaring commemorative years since 2010. Within this framework, the past commemorative years were respectively dedicated to  Magtumguly Pyragy and Toktogul Satylganov in 2014, Haldun Taner  and Simion Kadyshev  in 2015, Yusuf Khass Hajip in 2016, Molla Panah Vagif in 2017,  Gara Garayev   and Magjan Jumabay  in 2018 and Chingis Aitmatov in 2019, hence featuring various commemorative events held throughout the world.