The Legacy of the First Turkological Congress Continues to Unite the Turkic World

Today, on June 2, in Istanbul, the Turkic Academy, in cooperation with Marmara University, held a scientific and cultural event dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the First Turkology Congress, which took place in Baku in 1926.

The event continued a series of international academic meetings and scientific discussions held to mark the centenary of this historic forum, which brought together intellectuals of the Turkic world in the early 20th century.

As part of the program, an exhibition of scientific publications by the Turkic Academy was organized, along with archival photographs and materials prepared by the Academy, reflecting the history and legacy of the First Turkology Congress.

Among the exhibits was the “Album of the 1926 Baku Turkology Congress,” published in six Turkic languages. The publication contains information about 131 delegates of the historic congress.

Also presented was the book “Archival Documents of the 1926 Baku Turkology Congress,” published in Turkish and Russian and based on unique archival materials that reveal the historical context and significance of the Congress.

The event was attended by the President of the Turkic Academy, Prof. Dr. Shahin Mustafayev, Rector of Marmara University, Prof. Mehmet Emin Okur, turkologists, researchers, and members of the academic community of Türkiye.

Special attention during the event was given to the relevance of the ideas formulated by the participants of the First Turkology Congress in 1926 in the 21st century.

In his speech, President of the Turkic Academy Mustafayev noted that many issues discussed in Baku a century ago—such as the development of Turkology, the rapprochement of Turkic peoples through science and education, and the formation of a common scientific terminology and a common alphabet—are once again at the center of academic attention today.

In this regard, the Head of the Academy recalled that in 2023, under the coordination of the Turkic Academy, the Commission on the Common Turkic Alphabet was established, bringing together representatives of official bodies responsible for language policy in the Turkic countries. As a result of its work, the Common Turkic Alphabet was adopted in 2024.

“Today, the Academy is working on more than 50 scientific projects. A significant number of these projects are directly related to the topics discussed at the 1926 Baku Turkology Congress. These include terminological dictionaries of Turkic languages, the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Turkic Mythology, the Catalogue of Turkic Runic Monuments, the project ‘Sacred Geography of the Turkic World: Archaeological and Architectural Monuments,’ as well as many other fundamental publications. Work on the project ‘History of Turkic States’ is also ongoing,” said the Head of the Academy.

Participants of the event noted that, a century after the First Turkology Congress, issues of linguistic, scientific, and cultural cooperation remain highly relevant, and the activities of the Turkic Academy demonstrate a shift from discussing common ideas to their practical implementation at the international level.