Nothing highlights the Tajik government's efforts to forge a distinct national identity better than the country's annual Novruz festivities. This year, officials emphasized Tajikistan's Persian...
More than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, women in many parts of Georgia have become more outspoken on gender issues. But in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, a three-kilometer-wide, 30-...
High mountain villages in Tajikistan’s Pamir Range are quiet and cold in the winter. Snow leaves many villages difficult to access, and there is little to keep locals occupied. A large number of...
It might not be Tbilisi’s oldest legitimate profession, but, arguably, it is its most idiosyncratic. And there are signs it may be dying out, for few people are interested in becoming masseurs in...
Two skinny teenagers in oversized sweatshirts bound onto the stage, each wearing New York Yankees caps, nodding their heads in time as they call to the crowd: “Put your hands in the air! We want...
One can imagine that if Mikheil Saakashvili had never become the chief executive of Georgia, he would have excelled as a Donald Trump-style real estate developer.
Much like his entry into Georgian politics this past October, insiders unceremoniously mocked Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili when he made his initial foray into the highbrow world of...
Ask locals, and they’ll tell you that a 19th century mountaintop church in the southeastern region of Syunik has a dangerous allure, somewhat like the Sirens of Greek mythology.
Akbıyık, a village with 365 residents in Turkey’s western Bursa province, has a head start on the country’s plans to increase domestic energy production. The reason is simple -- it has a wind...
As far as cautionary tales go, this one is worth noting: Afghans celebrate all their modern-age anniversaries of liberation, except one. The day of victory over the British in 1919 is commemorated...
March 30, 2012 - 10:23am
