Every year, the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF) and the OIF member countries around the world hold events dedicated to the International Day of Francophonie.

The final day of the competition of the Francophonie, held by the French Institute in Turkmenistan among the French-speaking youth of our country, recently took place in the Ashgabat Cinema and Concert Hall. This event was held with the support of the embassies of France, Armenia and Romania in Turkmenistan with the assistance of the Ministry of Culture of Turkmenistan.

This year the contest nominations were dedicated to the memory of singer Charles Aznavour. The youngest contestants aged from 7 to 14 years old illustrated the title of one of the maestro's songs - I love Paris in May (J’aime Paris au mois de mai). Two more nominations for older participants are song and writing contests. For vocal, the participants had to choose and sing a song from the repertoire of the French chansonnier. In the art of writing they also competed being based on the line of one of the famous songs of S. Aznavour - Take me to wonderland (Emmène-moi au pays des merveilles). 

The final of the competition was opened by the welcoming speeches of the Heads of diplomatic missions of three OIF countries at once - France, Armenia and Romania. Then the audience was shown a short film about the life of Charles Aznavour.

In the drawing competition, according to the jury, the picture by Yana Hydyrova was the best. In second place is the work of Victoria Juravleva. Drawing of Roman Turaev closed the top three. The winners received prizes, and the participants of the art competition - gifts.

Five vocal finalists performed on stage. Each performance was illustrated with scenes. The first prize, a two-week trip to France, was awarded to Aynur Mahmydova with the song - Mourir d’aimer. She not only sang, but also played the violin an excerpt from this song. The second place was taken by Sabrina Huseynova, who perfectly performed the vocal composition - Et pourtant. Sabrina was awarded a year of free French language instruction at FIT. Third place is by Lala Kakajikova, with the song - Les comédiens. She was honored with one study session of the French language at FIT.

In the essay competition, the jury was faced with the task of not only assessing the level of the French language and style of writing, but also the originality of the creative thoughts of the authors of the essays. As a result of the first prize - a two-week trip to France, Merjen Amanova was awarded. The second place and the year of free study of French at FIT was awarded to Shemshat Batyrova. One training session — three months of study at FIT — was deserved by Gurbanjemal Atayeva.

At the end of the evening, all those present in the hall were fascinated by the song of Charles Aznavour - Eternal Love, performed by the duet of Nury Nuryev (tenor) and Bahar Durdyeva (soprano).