In accordance with the 2026 activity plan of the department of Folklore of Turkic Peoples of the Institute of Folklore of ANAS, the scientific report was made by the senior researcher of the department, Doctor of Sciences in Philology, Professor Almaz Hasangizi on the topic “Study of South Azerbaijani folklore in Turkey (in the context of the scientific-theoretical idea of emigration)”.

The event was attended by employees of the department and Dr. Shamsaddin Kuzachi, the head of the Kirkuk Cultural Association operating in Iraq, as well as Afag Khurramgizi, the deputy director for scientific affairs of the Institute, Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, associate professor.

Professor Almaz Hasangizi noted in his speech that folklore had become a means of national-spiritual self-affirmation of the people in South Azerbaijan, where neither education nor publishing activities in the native language were impossible for many years and even everyday speech was restricted in various forms. The people preserved their ideals of freedom and independence, historical memory, ethnocultural identity, social and moral values system through verbal creative patterns and passed them on from generation to generation. Ashiq creativity, epics, ceremonial folklore, quatrains and other genres acted as a form of moral resistance of the South Azerbaijani Turks.

In this context the scientific and theoretical idea formed in emigration was of particular importance. The speaker said that since the Azerbaijani intelligentsia operating abroad at that time worked in a free scientific environment, the South approached the Azerbaijani folklore both from the point of view of substantiating the national ideology and protecting the idea of cultural integrity.

At the end of the report the relevance of the topic in modern times was touched upon and the importance of systematic study of emigrant Folklore Studies was mentioned. The event continued in the conditions of scientific discussion, participants voiced questions and suggestions on the topic, exchanged views on future research directions.