Several thousand supporters of Armenian television channel ALM gather on the steps of the Matenadaran Manuscript Museum in the capital Yerevan on Jan. 19, to protest against the threatened closure of the television station. The potential shut down was the result of a controversial December decision by the country's National Commission on Television and Radio (HRAH), which handed a new broadcasting license to Yerevan TV, a small pro-government broadcaster, rather than the popular and independent ALM.
Tigran Karapetich, populist owner of the broadcaster and leader of a small opposition political party, addressed the crowd of mostly older Armenians, speaking mainly about social issues and government corruption.
Anahit Hayrapetyan is a freelance photojournalist based in Yerevan.
About 100 members of the Georgian Communist Party gather on December 21 in Joseph Stalin's hometown Gori to celebrate the former Soviet leader's 131st birthday. During the rally the party members, who arrived from several regions throughout Georgia, also protested against the dismantling of Stalin's monument on Gori's main square and demanded its immediate restoration.
The Georgian government took the monument down on June 21, 2010, and announced that it would be moved to the yard of Stalin's museum in Gori, located within a kilometer from town's main square. Since then, the present location of the monument, as well as the possible date of its restoration remains publicly unknown.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Three bakers in the Tarlabasi district of Istanbul had been working only with the light from the bakery oven for an hour before they got a new lightbulb.
Jonathan Lewis is a freelance photojournalist based in Istanbul.
Two men read stories about violence against women at an exhibition in Yerevan's Charles Aznavour Square organized on November 29 by the Women's Rights Center.
The exhibition aimed to raise public awareness of domestic violence in Armenia and how to prevent it. Cutout silhouettes of nine women attached with true stories of domestic violence were arranged in the square for pedestrians to view.
Anahit Hayrapetyan is a freelance photojournalist based in Yerevan.
A boy plays outside his home in central Ashgabat. Satellite dishes abound in Turkmenistan, providing residents access to Russian and Turkish news. Since the Russian state-controlled media's apparent interference in Kyrgyzstan and Belarus this year, observers in Ashgabat suggest the satellites give the Kremlin a quiet lever of power over the country.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
Hundreds of Uzbek students attended the International Education Fair at Tashkent International School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Nov. 13, to seek advice on how to apply for international universities and colleges, fill out grant and scholarship documents and prepare for entrance exams.
The fair, sponsored by the US Department of Education and US State Department, is in its fourth year as part of Uzbekistan's International Education Week. The British Council, the Goethe Institute, the Victor Hugo French Cultural Center and Westminster International University also participated.
According to the US embassy in Uzbekistan, enrollment of Uzbek students in US colleges and universities increased 28 percent from 2008 to 2009. About 672,000 international students attended schools and higher education in the United States in 2009.
The "dry bridge" market in Tbilisi has gotten smaller over the years, but it remains a kitsh-conscious tourist's best spot to find everything from Georgian daggers to Soviet matchbook sets. A recent trip revealed some Georgian-language typewriters featuring the nation's unique alphabet.
Vladic Ravich is a freelance photojournalist based in Turkey.
A girl sits in a still-unnamed cafe opened inside the house of Nikolas Lutidze in Tbilisi. Similar home-based bars and cafes have been springing up throughout the Georgian capital in recent months.
Vladic Ravich is a freelance photojournalist based in Turkey.
Air temperatures in the single digits don't deter swimmers at the Issyk-Ata hot springs in northern Kyrgyzstan. The malodorous, sulfur-infused water lures weekenders of all ages to the Soviet-era sanatorium some two hours from Bishkek.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
