Today, Shusha city holds the official opening ceremony of "Shusha - the cultural capital of the Turkic world - 2023" under the joint organization of the Ministry of Culture and TURKSOY, Azernews reports.

At the event organized in accordance with the Decree of the Azerbaijani President dated December 6, 2022, on the events related to the declaration of the city of Shusha as the "Cultural Capital of the Turkish World" for 2023, state officials, representatives of the International Organization of Turkish Culture - TURKSOY member countries delegations, heads of Turkish cooperation organizations and other guests are expected to participate.

After the official opening ceremony, the guests will watch the performances of art collectives of the Turkish world and get acquainted with the exhibitions.

It should be noted that on March 31, 2022, in the city of Bursa, Turkiye, by the decision of the Permanent Council of Ministers of Culture of TURKSOY member countries, the city of Shusha, the ancient cradle of mugham art, was declared the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World" for 2023.

Music and dance groups of TURKSOY countries and artists also participated in the "Kharibulbul" International Music Festival held in Shusha from May 9 to 11. Although the festival has ended, the celebration of the culture of the Turkic world in Shusha will continue until the end of the year with many projects and ceremonies.

To recall, the foundation of the "Cultural capital of the Turkic world" project was laid in 2010 at the 10th summit of the heads of Turkic-speaking countries held in Istanbul. According to the decision, every year one city from the Turkic world is declared "capital of culture".

To date, Astana (2012, Kazakhstan), Eskisehir (2013, Turkiye), Kazan (2014, Tatarstan - Russian Federation), Merv (2015, Turkmenistan), Sheki (2016, Azerbaijan), Turkestan (2017, Kazakhstan), Kastamonu ( 2018, Turkiye), Osh (2019, Kyrgyzstan), Khiva (2020, Uzbekistan) and Bursa (2022, Turkiye) became the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World". Shusha is the 11th city to carry out this mission.