Last week, Mary hosted an international scientific conference – “Ancient Merv –a cultural centre of the Turkic world”, held within the framework of the events devoted to declaring Mary a cultural capital of the Turkic world for 2015. Literary critics, cultural experts, art historians, historians, architects, archaeologists, and other representatives of cultural and humanitarian spheres of Turkey, Russian Federation (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan) Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and others arrived in Mary to participate in the forum. The speakers at the conference opening ceremony, which was held in the state dram theatre named after Kemine, underlined that organization of such a large international forum in the Turkmen land, will enable to further broaden the knowledge of culture, traditions, customs, art of the Turkmen people. Representatives of scholarly circles of foreign countries noted that Turkic people, living in different regions of the world, are united with unique elements of ethnic, spiritual, and historical roots, and their interaction at the modern stage facilitate mutual enrichment of ancient cultures. Then, the conference continued its work in the thematic sections which were held in Mary velayat library and the Local History Museum of Mary velayat. In the course of panel sessions, the topical issues of history of ancient Merv were considered; due attention was paid to the architecture of that period. Scientific information backed by the manuscripts in which great scholars, astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, philologists, historians, geographers from Merv who were famous in many countries of the East were mentioned, evoked a great interest. In the evening, a grand concert with participation of masters of art of Turkic countries was performed at the state of the city’s theater. In the last day of the forum, the conference participants made a get-acquainted tour to the State Historico-Cultural Reserve “Ancient Merv”. The Reserve’s unique monuments enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage List are in the focus of attention of the scholars of the world.