In addition to its various diplomatic activities throughout Azerbaijan, Baku Yunus Emre Institute continues to represent Turkey as a stakeholder in large-scale organizations and to be one of the leading cultural institutions in the country.

Turan Book Festival, organized for the first time this year in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, opened its doors to book lovers between January 11-15, 2023 at the "Pasaj-1901" exhibition center, one of the historical buildings of the city.

Many book lovers attended the opening of the festival organized with the support of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Science and Education, Baku Yunus Emre Institute and Çapar Publications.

In his opening speech, Baku Yunus Emre Institute Coordinator Selçuk Karakılıç emphasized that the organization of the festival is a great step at a time when the strategic alliance between Turkey and Azerbaijan has reached the highest level. Coordinator Karakılıç noted the following:

"It is difficult and challenging to turn a dream into reality. Books create a loving conversation between two souls. We read books to discover new realms. A book is a door to miracles and mysteries. Cemil Meriç says: ‘People were bad, so I took refuge in books.’ Sometimes, books can be our only safe haven. Books are a way to explore a new soul, to learn about innovation, and to nurture others with the knowledge we learn."

STRENGTHENING HISTORICAL TIES BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES

Karakılıç emphasized that Baku Yunus Emre Institute's main purpose in supporting the book festival is to keep the book exhibitions alive and to strengthen the historical ties between the two countries by bringing Azerbaijani and Turkish scientists together. He stated that they aim to keep the communication channels open in this field by bringing writers, publishers, editors and readers from Turkey and Azerbaijan together.

"TURKISH WORLD AND AZERBAIJANI TURKISH GENERATION" TALK WITH ILYAS TOPSAKAL

Prof. İlyas Topsakal from Istanbul University met with Azerbaijani readers at the 1^st Turan Book Fair with a talk on "Turkish World and Azerbaijani Turkish Generation", due to the interest of Azerbaijani youth in Turkish history.

Topsakal stated that he has been coming to Azerbaijan frequently since the 1990s and that he has seen new developments in each visit and continued his speech as follows:

"I come to Azerbaijan regularly. When I think back to the previous years, I see that the number of books in this exhibition had increased, and that there are much more works by contemporary authors writing in a modern style. This brings me great pride and joy. At the same time, I was also interested in books on culture covering both the Turkish world and the international world. Apart from that, the speeches of the authors at the conference were also very interesting. I appreciate all these new developments and the festival."

The festival, which was attended by around 40 publishing houses, ended with book presentations, signing sessions and reading hours, interviews and author meetings.