International Organization of Turkic Culture

On April 27-28, the General Secretariat of TURKSOY (International Organization of Turkic Culture) held the Panel of Museums of the Turkic World in Budapest, Hungary. The directors and senior specialists from the museums of the Turkic world were invited to the panel, dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of Vilmos Diószegi, famous Hungarian ethnographer who conducted researches on Turkic peoples and shamanism. Shirin Melikova, the Director of ANCM, was also present at this event jointly realized by TURKSOY Museums Community, OTS European Office, and Hungarian Museum of Ethnography. As the Term Chairman she delivered an opening speech at the event. Sh. Melikova emphasised the importance of these traditional meetings in order to expand relationships between the museums of Turkic states. She spoke about historical cultural ties between Hungary and Turkic world developing today in the course of time. Later, the meeting continued with panel sessions. At the first session, Sh. Melikova made a detailed report “Museum and Visitor: Horizons of Cooperation”. The report covered a number of essential aspects such as the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum’s principles of work with visitors, meeting the modern requirements, many cultural and educational projects aimed to arouse visitors’ interest to the ancient national heritage. The report was welcomed with great interest, during the discussion Sh. Melikova answered participants’ questions.

Representatives from Turkey, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and other countries also made interesting reports in museum field and ethnographic researches.