BAKU, Azerbaijan

The International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation hosted a solidarity event Thursday for children of the Turkic world in Azerbaijan's capital Baku.

The event, organized on the occasion of the Dec. 31 World Azerbaijanis Solidarity Day and New Year Celebration and hosted by the foundation's president, Gunay Efendiyeva, was attended by the head of Azerbaijan's State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Affairs, Bahar Muradova, Turkey's Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Cahit Bagci, representatives of the Baku embassies of the member states of the Organization of the Turkic States and children.

"The Turkic world is a big tree and Turkic countries are the branches of this tree, while children are its buds," Efendiyeva said while speaking at the event.

She emphasized that the Turkic world has always been in solidarity, and the most recent example of this was seen in last year's Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"I want our children to support each other in the future. Let the children of the Turkic world stand shoulder to shoulder, let the 21st century be the century of the Turkic world," Efendiyeva added.

Traditional and contemporary values

Emphasizing that family and children are a very important factor in all parts of the Turkic world, Muradova said: "We have to work for the Turkic tree to grow bigger and to cast a great shadow around it. Our children should grow up with both traditional and contemporary values."

Bagci meanwhile emphasized the importance of protecting the cultural heritage.

"These lands are our ancestral lands. We must tell our children everything about the leaven of our brotherhood that holds us together in our ancestral lands," he added.

The event also included the singing of poems and songs by children from the member and observer countries of the Organization of Turkic States.

In the event, which included theater, music, and dance performances by Azerbaijani primary school students, various gifts were given to the children.

*Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev