• West Asia

    Interesting Fact: An Official Rainbow Flag in Armenian History

    A controversial historical fact remains a big discussion for Armenians. A rainbow flag was proposed by Martiros Saryan in 1919 and it was used for a short time. A piece appeared on the website of the Public TV Company of Armenia, titled “The Creation Story of the 3 symbols of…

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  • West Asia

    Enemies in love

    When two people love each other, usually neither of them think about the other’s nationality. They focus on the chemistry between them – not on nationalism or patriotism. But people can’t live separated from their own surroundings or environment, and often don’t want to, either. Couples from nations in conflict…

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  • West Asia

    Iran endorses visa-free regime with Armenia

    A session of Iran’s Cabinet made decisions on abolition of visa requirements between Armenia and Iran. Members of Iran’s Cabinet gathered together for a session on July 10 chaired by President Rouhani, Mehr reports. The meeting made relevant decisions on setting regulations for abolition of visas for holders of diplomatic…

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  • Central Asia

    Airlines Cash in on Russia’s Turkey Tourism Revival

    The price of airplane tickets from Moscow to the Turkish resort of Antalya have risen by 75.6 percent in the last week as companies cash in on a surge of Russian holidaymakers visiting the country, The Moscow Times reports. Data from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) also…

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  • Central Asia

    Armenian-Turkish reconciliation not in Russia’s interests

    Armenian-Turkish reconciliation is not in Russia’s regional interests, expert in Turkic studies Gevorg Petrosyan told Tert.am as he commented on an article in the Russia-based Izvestia newspaper claiming that, along with Russia-Turkey reconciliation, Russia plans Armenia-Turkey reconciliation, including re-opening of borders, Tert.am reports. Moscow insists that the South Caucasus is…

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  • West Asia

    New gold reserves discovered in Iran

    Recent explorations have led to identification of new reserves of gold at Iran’s Zarshouran gold mine, Mohammad Reza Ahmadi, manager of Zarshouran Gold Complex, said. He said that the explorations indicate that the mine contains 108 tons of gold with purity of four grams per ton, Ahmadi said, ISNA news…

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  • South Asia

    The World According to ISIS: Horrifying map of target countries

    Jake Burman wrote a piece about the targets of ISIS terrorism. His piece includes various threats of the terrorist organisation to global security. The piece starts, “This is the terrifying new map of Europe released by Islamic State (ISIS) – drawn-up to show the areas it plans dominate in the…

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  • South Asia

    Iran and India Determined to Develop Chabahar Port

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi voiced determination to implement the agreements signed between the two countries, particularly a project to develop Iran’s southeastern port city of Chabahar, Tasnim reports. In a telephone conversation with the Indian premier on July 6, President Rouhani said Tehran…

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  • West Asia

    Gay in the South Caucasus: LGBT life in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan

    Armenia “I lost so many friends…”  Karen Arakelyan (note: name has been changed for purposes of anonymity) for years fought against himself, trying to change the truth known only to him. But as a result, it became impossible to live with this secret, and he decided to come out: “I’m…

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  • West Asia

    340 news websites banned, access to 3,000 links blocked in one year

    Since June 7, 2015, 340 news websites were banned while access to around 3,000 links was blocked in a year as part of the government-initiated crackdown on media, Turkish Minute cites the Yeni Hayat daily report. Access to tens of dailies’ websites as well as other online news portals is systematically…

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