By Zeynep Hilal Karyagdi Duran
ISTANBUL (AA) - Iraq’s International Baghdad Theatre Festival began Wednesday after an eight-year hiatus.
The festival started at the famous Al-Rasheed Theatre in the capital with the motto, "Theatre now enlightens the life".
Many countries across the Middle East and world are participating, said the festival's media director Zahra al-Jubouri who spoke to Iraq’s official news agency, INA. She said that seminars and workshops will be held as well.
In addition to the Al-Rasheed Theatre, the National and Rafidain theatres will host the festival, Jubouri added.
The Iraqi Culture Ministry announced that the Mirbed poetry festival will kick off Thursday in the southern Basra province.
Artists from Arab countries as well as Iran and Azerbaijan will participate in the festival that will last four days, it noted.
*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara