As a part of the VIII International Symposium “From the Common Turkic Past to the Common Turkic Future”, organized by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) and the Institute of Folklore ANAS, the sixth panel titled “The Folklore Heritage of Turkic Peoples: Common Features, Regional Differences and Problems of Comparative Analysis” and the seventh panel, “Sustaining Folklore Traditions: Oral Performance, Ashiq Art and Performative Culture” were held on 3^rd of July. The sessions were moderated by Professor Abdulselam Arvas from Hajettepe University and Professor Agaverdi Khalil from the Institute of Folklore ANAS.

The panel sessions featured extensive discussions on the shared folklore heritage of the Turkic peoples, heroic epics, comparative folklore studies, Nowruz traditions, the philosophical and semantic dimensions of the Book of Dede Gorgud, oral storytelling and ashiq traditions, performative culture, contemporary folklore memory and current issues related to preserving folklore heritage and transmitting it to future generations.

The first presentation was delivered by Professor Abdulselam Arvas on the theme “Numbers in Tatar Epics”.

Professor Agaverdi Khalil, Head of the Department of Ritual Folklore and National Culinary Tradition at the Institute of Folklore ANAS, presented a paper entitled “Problems in the Joint Study of the Common Cultural Heritage of the Turkic Peoples”.

Associate Professor Sakina Gaybaliyeva, PhD in Philology and Leading Researcher at the Department of Turkic Peoples’ Folklore of the Institute of Folklore ANAS, presented the theme “The “Koblandi Batir” Epic in the Kazakh Epic Tradition”.

Associate Professor Gumru Shahriyar, PhD in Philology and Senior Researcher at the same department, made a presentation titled “The Nogai Nation and the Nogais”.

Associate Professor Malahat Babayeva presented a paper on the theme “A Comparative Typology of Oghuz, Kazakh and Altai Heroic Epics”.

Sevinj Gasimova, PhD in Philology and Leading Researcher at the Department of Mythology of the ANAS Institute of Folklore, spoke on the theme “The Philosophical and Religious Semantics of the Sayings of Dede Gorgud in the Introduction to the “Book of Dede Gorgud”.

Shahla Huseynli, PhD in Philology and Leading Researcher at the Department of Folklore Ceremony and National Culinary Tradition, presented a report “A Comparative Analysis of Food Rituals in the Nowruz Traditions of the Turkic Peoples”.

Saadat Ibrahimli, Researcher at the Department of South Azerbaijan Folklore of the Institute of Folklore ANAS, delivered a presentation entitled “The Preservation of Folklore and the Transmission of Cultural Heritage to Future Generations in the Turkic World”.

Associate Professor Elchin Galiboglu, PhD in Philology and Leading Researcher at the Department of Mythology, made a report on the theme “The Expression of Legendary Motifs Preserved in Contemporary Oral Tradition (Based on Folklore Materials Collected in Mountainous Shirvan)”.

PhD Narmin Babayeva made a presentation on the theme “The Image of the Ashiq in the Ashiq Poetry of West Azerbaijan”.

The final presentation was given by Associate Professor Sabina Isayeva, PhD in Philology and Leading Researcher at the Department Dede Gorgud of the Institute of Folklore ANAS, on the theme “The Image of the World in Ashiq Poetry”.

The sixth and seventh panel sessions concluded with an extensive exchange of views on the comparative study of the shared folklore heritage of the Turkic peoples, the typological characteristics of epic traditions, the preservation of oral storytelling and ashiq traditions, performative culture, the safeguarding of national and cultural memory, the scholarly study of common cultural values and current approaches to transmitting folklore heritage to future generations.