Mikhail Turetsky: the Caucasus is a gem of our country

The North Caucasus is a true gem of Russia, the People's Artist of Russia, the artistic director of the Khor Turetskogo ensemble, Mikhail Turetsky noted in an interview with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza during a press conference at Tass, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the ensemble.

‘‘The Russian Caucasus is gem of the country and a very important region with a lot of different nationalities. They should live in peace, respect each other, love, and appreciate everyone’s contribution on the way to the mutual goal,’’ he stressed.

According to the artistic director, the Khor Turetskogo may be of great assistance in uniting peoples. "In this regard, we are an indispensable musical product. And we promote this idea at our concerts. We have visited all the cities in the Caucasus: both in Makhachkala, and Magas, and Vladikavkaz," Mikhail Turetsky said.

"Certainly, our holy grail is to travel to the Caucasus, and we will try to achieve this goal. We have friendly relations with heads of all regions,’’ he added.

The artistic director of the ensemble also shared his opinion about the capital of Azerbaijan. "Baku gave me a brilliant and incredible impression. The city has taken a significant step up. And it continues to be developed,’’ he pointed out.

"In general, people work in Azerbaijan, as they have a national idea. The state has a great future,’’ Turetsky said.

Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he pointed out that the Khor Turetskogo is a bearer of fraternal ideas and ideas of friendship among peoples. "My biggest dream is to do something good in order to reconcile the two nations. I performed fifteen times in Baku when I was a child. We travelled there with the Sveshnikov Boys’ Choir and sang in the Azerbaijani language. I travelled to Baku when I was a student. We also travelled to Yerevan," he shared his memories.

"My current dream is to travel to Baku again. And then to Yerevan. I think it is very important for us, and for those people,’’ he said.

He underlined that he had a sad feeling about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. "We need to gather and negotiate. Just agree and strictly stick to our agreements because it is necessary to get out of this collapse. The escalation of the conflict is extremely dangerous. It is necessary to involve all the positive social forces in this process in order to help them to agree. It's very easy to love all mankind, but is so difficult to love the neighbor. But despite this it is necessary to come to an understanding,’’ Mikhail Turetsky said.