Baku, March 5, AZERTAC

The opening ceremony of the 5th International Ethnosport Forum under the motto “Reviving Traditional Sports” has today been held in Baku.

The opening ceremony of the forum was attended by the Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan, Farid Gayibov, the Chairman of the World Ethnosport Confederation, Bilal Erdogan, the Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Program, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the Chairman of the Organization of Turkic States, Baghdad Amreyev, heads of partner organizations, state and government officials, as well as diplomats from 14 countries. The forum brings together a total of 140 delegates.

The event first featured a video highlighting the development of ethnosports across the world.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister of Youth and Sports Farid Gayibov thanked the chairman of the World Ethnosport Confederation, Bilal Erdogan, for holding the event in Baku. Emphasizing the fact that Azerbaijan had extensive experience in hosting large-scale events, the minister said: “With the attention and care of the Azerbaijani state, especially President Ilham Aliyev, the 1st European Games, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, the 15th European Youth Summer Olympic Festival, Formula 1 races, world and European championships and other prestigious tournaments had been held in Baku. The program of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games included Zorkhana - a traditional Azerbaijani sport, and this competition was held with great success. A number of competitions, including international tournaments, are organized in the Azerbaijani national sport of Chovgan. In 2019, the National Pasture Festival was held in Gadabay.

The Minister said that 5 March has been celebrated as the Day of Physical Culture and Sports in Azerbaijan since 2005. This year, a series of events have been organized in different regions of the country as part of Sports Week.

The chairman of the World Ethnosport Confederation, Bilal Erdogan, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that such a prestigious forum was being held in Azerbaijan, a country with an ancient history. Emphasizing the importance of promoting national sports among the younger generation, Erdogan said: “Today's forum will discuss the past and future of traditional sports. It is a great success to bring together representatives of many countries and nations on this topic. Respect, solidarity and peace are of special importance for the unification of people. The World Ethnosport Confederation has always built its work on these values. I hope that this forum will play the role of a bridge between different cultures.”

Bilal Erdogan said the next forum would be held in Turkey.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program, said that the UN attached great importance to cooperation with the World Ethnosport Confederation and was pleased with this cooperation. All peoples and nations have the right to revive national sports because all traditional national sports are the wealth of the world.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif noted that she would continue to actively cooperate with the UN World Ethnosport Confederation.

Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States Baghdad Amreyev stressed the importance of increasing the popularity of ethnosports in terms of developing relations between different peoples, deepening friendship and cooperation. Baghdad Amreyev said the forum, as well as ethnosport, would make an important contribution to the development of fraternal relations between Turkic-speaking countries and peoples.

The World Ethnosport Confederation has been organizing the Ethnosport Culture Festival in Istanbul every year since 2016, bringing together hundreds of thousands of visitors from dozens of countries. Held as part of traditional sports and games, the festival provides an opportunity for different countries to demonstrate their cultural and sporting events.

With the support of the Confederation, the National Pasture Festival was held in Gadabay in 2019 in order to preserve and promote the traditions of pastures in Azerbaijan. The main objective of the festival was to demonstrate the rich and centuries-old cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people, the centuries-old culture of pastures, the unique cultural samples and historical sites, and to unlock the tourism potential of the area.