A scientific session on the topic “Folklore context of Bakhtiyar Vahabzade”s activity” was held at the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, dedicated to the 100th  anniversary of the birth of academician Bakhtiyar Vahabzade, a prominent representative of Azerbaijani literature, People’s Poet, playwright, literary critic, educator and public figure, laureate of State Prizes of the USSR and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The event was opened by Hikmat Guliyev, Director of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, Doctor of Sciences in Philology. In his speech, he mentioned that the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, dated February 21, 2025 and said that in accordance with the relevant decree of the head of state, the 100th anniversary of Bakhtiyar Vahabzade was being celebrated nationwide. The scholar noted that the folklore context of Bakhtiyar Vahabzade’s work was not limited to the embodiment of folk idioms and feelings, folklore images, plots and motifs in his works. In fact, Vahabzade’s work is an emotional-expressive expression of collective cultural memory and folk thought, an individual performative discourse. Because the poet’s work was formed at the intersection of folklore and written literature, becoming a poetic embodiment of the people’s spiritual values and national identity.

At the scientific session some reports were made by other scientists such as “Bakhtiyar Vahabzade: his art and personality” by Professor Ramazan Gafarli, Doctor of Sciences in Philology, head of the department “Dede Gorgud” of the Institute of Folklore, “Bakhtiyar Vahabzade’s poetry in the context of folklore” by PhD., associate professor Gulnar Osmanova, “Folk idioms in Bakhtiyar Vahabzade’s activity” by PhD., associate professor Gulsumkhanim Hasilova, “The symbolism of numbers in Bakhtiyar Vahabzade’s works” by PhD., associate professor Shabnam Mammadova and others.

The scientific session continued with the fourth-year students of Khazar University, who were interning at the Folklore Institute, sharing their thoughts on the poet’s work and examples of poetry they performed.