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On 17 October 2020, the Azerbaijani Army liberated the city of Fuzuli and several surrounding villages, ending more than 27 years of occupation that began on 23 August 1993. Deputy Sevil Mikayilova told Trend, as reported by Day.Az, that the priority now is turning the victory into sustainable development, rebuilding the destroyed city and enabling residents to resettle.
History & Heritage
Gagauzia will mark October 19 as the Day of Remembrance of Famine Victims. The observance commemorates the famine genocide carried out by the Soviet regime against the Gagauz people in 1946-1947 and is dedicated to the victims of that period.
Kazakhstan has obtained observer status in the Asian Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, according to the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan. The decision was announced at the alliance's fourth Council meeting in Hangzhou, China. More than 20 states sent officials from relevant agencies, along with representatives of international organisations working on heritage conservation and protection in conflict zones.
Edil Aydarbekov, an architect and one of the co-authors of the state flag of Kyrgyzstan, died on October 18, 2026, at the age of 79. He held the honorary title of Honored Cultural Worker of the Kyrgyz Republic and had been awarded the Dank medal.
Archaeologists have discovered new evidence of Bronze Age life at the Jarkutan monument in Uzbekistan's Surkhandarya region. Excavations uncovered ancient buildings, four intact ceramic vessels, economic pits and a child's burial. The report by CentralAsia, citing Podrobno.uz, says the findings will help explain how people lived, built homes and buried their dead several thousand years ago.
A manuscript held at Tashkent State University’s library, long considered lost, was found to be a major 14th-century encyclopedic source. It is Badriddin Ibrohim’s explanatory dictionary Zafangʻoʻ va jahonpoʻ, known for centuries only from short quotations in later works.
A monument to the Liberator Soldier in Shirovka village, Belebey district, Bashkortostan, is being renovated under the Supporting Local Initiatives programme. The surroundings are being tidied up and refreshed. Concrete curbs will be built and 22 granite slabs installed, engraved with the names of villagers who went to fight in the Great Patriotic War. Names of soldiers killed in the special military operation will also be commemorated, and an Eternal Flame is planned at the site.
Restoration work is underway on the dome of the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi mausoleum in Turkestan, Khabar 24 reported, citing 24KZ. The dome, which had long been hidden under a protective frame, is now being repaired by specialists, who are restoring its unique glazed tile cladding. The main goal is to fully preserve the original architectural appearance of the ancient structure.
Uzbekistan's Cultural Heritage Agency has responded to reports about the State Literature Museum named after Alisher Navoi in Tashkent. A new museum building is under construction in New Tashkent, and its collections are being temporarily moved to the Islamic Civilization Center and the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Anthropology.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on state awards. The document was published on the legal acts portal. Among the recipients are three representatives from Tatarstan.
Azerbaijan marks the 35th anniversary of the restoration of its independence on October 18.
Bayte-3, an ancient sanctuary dating to the 4th-3rd centuries BC, lies in the Ustyurt steppe of West Kazakhstan, Qazinform News Agency reports. Located about 20 kilometers northeast of the village of Sai-Otes in Mangistau region, the site was investigated in 1998 by the West Kazakhstan archaeological expedition.
An international scientific-practical conference on the scholarly and spiritual heritage of the thinker Ahmad Yasawi, and its significance for strengthening cooperation among Turkic states, was held in Tashkent. The event was organised by the Uzbekistan International Islamic Academy, the Committee for Religious Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and the Yasawi Research Institute at the Khoja Ahmed Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University.
Trend has published its chronicle of the 44-day Patriotic War for 18 October. The war began on 27 September 2020, when Armenian armed forces carried out large-scale provocations along the front line, and Azerbaijan responded with a counteroffensive later named “Iron Fist”. The 44-day war ended roughly 30 years of occupation and restored Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
Six years have passed since the village of Khudafarin in Jabrayil district was freed from Armenian occupation. Qafqazinfo reports that on October 18, 2020, the 22nd day of the Patriotic War that began on September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani Army liberated the historic Khudafarin bridges and Khudafarin village.
Major reconstruction work at the National Historical and Cultural Complex Manas Ordo in Kyrgyzstan's Talas region has been fully completed. The grounds have been renewed, and national heritage has been combined with modern architectural solutions. The work began in 2024 and was funded from the republican budget. On November 13, 2025, President Sadyr Japarov laid a time capsule at the complex in connection with the reconstruction.
According to Orenburg Media, citing Darya Bogachuk, a research fellow in the Department for the Preservation of Archaeological Heritage at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientists were able to study in detail the construction features of defensive, residential and religious buildings of past centuries despite the high degree of destruction of the monuments. The data confirm archival records and significantly enrich knowledge of the history of fortification and urban planning in Orenburg.
An education and culture centre of the Kayum Nasyri Institute opened in Astrakhan on 15 October, at the base of the Dostlyk Tatar National Culture regional public organisation. The institute belongs to the Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication of Kazan Federal University. The Tatarstan Ministry of Education and Science press service reported the opening.
Scientists from six countries have agreed to jointly study the steppe civilization, in particular the history of the Golden Horde and the Ulus of Jochi, according to Khabar 24. An agreement to create a scientific consortium was signed in Almaty. The academies of sciences of Kazakhstan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Mongolia are members.
According to APA, Azerbaijan is marking 35 years since restoring its independence. The article's headline is devoted to this anniversary.
On 15 October 1956, a powerful natural gas fountain erupted from a well in Yakutia, marking the discovery of the Ust-Vilyuy gas field. Seventy years later, the find is remembered as the first gas field in Yakutia and the start of the region's modern gas industry.
On 13 October 2026, an international training seminar titled “Opportunities for Expanding Documentary Diversity” opened in Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of UNESCO's Memory of the World programme. The news was reported on the website of Turkmenistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIM).
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke at the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku. He said that during the 2020 Patriotic War, Azerbaijan expelled Armenian occupying forces from its captured territories and liberated more than 300 towns and villages on the battlefield.
The Government of the Russian Federation has formed an organizing committee to prepare and hold the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Gabdulla Tukay's birth and has approved its composition. According to Tatar-Inform, the order was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Today's top Turkic news: Uzbekistan-China ties, Samarkand visit, Kulubaev-Rubio talks, Northern Cyprus festival and Turkmen desertification centre.
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