Biodiversity conservation specialist Bejan Lordkipanidze of the Georgian organization NACRES squats in front of the carcass of a GPS-collared wolf named Chkhinka ("Skinny") on November 20. Chkhinka went "missing" for a week as scientists stopped receiving location data from the canine's collar. Eventually a new radio signal helped Lordkipanidze find the dead wolf, apparently attacked by sheep dogs in the fields near the Vashlovani National Park, most likely as a result of the wolf's attack on one of numerous sheep herds in the area.
Chkhinka was trapped and GPS-collared by Lortkipanidze within the Georgia Carnivore Conservation Project, which aims at conserving the biodiversity of Georgia's semi-arid landscapes and improving the coexistence of people and wildlife.
The unfortunate discovery of Chkhinka's carcass elicited sorrowful comments from the search group, with one scientist saying, "You should have seen his eyes when he woke up [after been trapped and immobilized by a tranquilizer]. You wouldn't even think it was a wolf in front of you."
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Men lure a dromedary camel into a truck in Ashgabat's Tolkuchka Bazaar. The beasts sell for between $500 and $1,000 and are prized in Turkmenistan for their wool, milk and meat, which is low in fat and thus often dry, but tastes a bit like beef.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
Men take turns filling jugs with drinking water at Ashgabat's Sto Fontanov (100 Fountains) park.
Turkmenistan is covered by desert, making water a valuable resource. Nevertheless, much of it seems to be pumped into fountains in the capital, leading some to complain of shortages.
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.
Sentries keep vigil outside the tomb of former President Saparmurat Niyazov ("Turkmebashi" -- leader of all Turkmen -- often described using the medieval epithet, "the Great"). Niyazov, who died suddenly in 2006 after ruling Turkmenistan since independence, still haunts the country with golden statues and eponymous everything, but his personality cult is being dismantled in favor of his dentist and successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
The tomb is on the site of Niyazov's home village outside Ashgabat, where an earthquake in 1948 killed his mother and siblings. They are now buried -- under a colossal amount of marble -- beside him.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
Young men play video games at a small parlor in Nokhur, in the mountains along the Iranian border about 150 kilometers west of Ashgabat. Though Internet penetration is rapidly increasing in Turkmenistan - including the introduction of 3G wireless networks in the past year - the Net has not yet reached Nokhur. These games are played on offline consoles connected directly to old televisions.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
Muslims living in the Georgian village of Talaveri prepare meat for the celebration of Kurban Bairam - the Islamic holiday also known as Eid al-Adha. In Talaveri, where the overwhelming majority of the population is ethnic Azeris, villagers started building a mosque - seen in the background - more than a year ago.
Shortly after construction began, representatives from Union of Orthodox Parents - considered by some a radical religious organization - visited the community, claiming the ethnic Azeris were "only guests" in Georgia and could not continue constructing the mosque without permission from the Georgian Orthodox Church. Following an assurance by the church that the claim made by the Union of Orthodox Parents was false, the Talaveri muslims have continued the construction of the mosque.
Pressure on religious minorities remains among one of Georgia’s major human rights issues, though the number of such cases has dropped in recent years.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
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.
Mirroring the conflict in Kyrgyzstan this year, boys act out a skirmish between stone-throwing protestors and riot police in central Bishkek on November 15 (top).
In the end, the "police" fled.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
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 photo has the power to expose, to entertain, to communicate, to celebrate and to change lives. The Focal Plane - the place inside of the body of a camera where the light comes through the lens and into focus either on the CCD sensor in a digital camera or on the film in an analog camera - will showcase the work of Eurasia's visual storytellers.
About The Author
Dean C.K. Cox is the photo editor for EurasiaNet and is based in Sweden. He is a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer covering former Soviet republics and former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
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