Career
Annakuliyeva was the first internationally known opera singer to emerge from Turkmenistan. She starred as the lead role in the opera, Zohre and Tahyr, at the theater. Annakuliyeva performed throughout the Soviet Union during her theater and opera career.
The President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov officially banned opera in the country in 2001.
However, Niyazov"s successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, lifted the ban in 2008, making opera legal in Turkmenistan again. Annagul Annakuliyeva died on July 18, 2009, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, at the age of 85 after a long illness.