Geography of Asia

By Stathis Kousounis

Tourism bookings from Russia this season have so far shown a massive yearly decline of 50 to 60 percent at Greece?s popular destinations, according to the president of the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises (SETE), Andreas Andreadis.

Turkey and Azerbaijan began on Tuesday the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).

Turkish President Recep Erdogan and his Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts Ilham Aliyev and Giorgi Margvelashvili attended the inauguration ceremony in Turkey's Kars region.

After being sentenced to death, three convicts got publicly beheaded with a sword.

All three beheaded (a Pakistani and two Saudis) were sentenced for drug trafficking and murder.

According to the APF, the total amount of beheadings of people sentenced to death penalty since the beginning of the year reach the 48, which is much more than last year.

Turkish Prime Minsiter Ahmet Davutoglu stated that negotiating with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is like shaking Adolf Hitler’s hand, underlining Turkey’s differing views to the USA as far as negotiating with the Syrian leader goes.

Rather than drawing closer together, the EU and Turkey are drifting apart due to growing authoritarianism in the latter, stuttering growth, and a faltering Kurdish peace process, non-governmental organization the Independent Turkish Commission warned on March 17.

A UN envoy says he sees an opportunity to resume suspended talks to reunify ethnically divided Cyprus amid signs that a clash over an offshore natural gas search may be ebbing.

Turkey and Azerbaijan will on Tuesday formally begin construction on a new gas pipeline costing over $10 billion which will pump gas from the vast Azerbaijani Shah Deniz 2 field across Anatolia to Turkish and EU consumers.

Noble Energy is expected to declare its Aphrodite natural gas reserve off Cyprus commercially viable within weeks, Cyprus's energy minister said on Tuesday.

The move would allow Cyprus to export gas, Energy Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis told reporters.

As Iraq struggles to protect its ancient sites and heritage from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the United States returned some 60 historical items to the country on March 16, many dating to thousands of years ago.
      

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has changed the name of the 3.5-kilometer long ??stinye Bay?r?? Street where the posh mall ?stinye Park is located into ?Qatar Street.? At the municipal assembly, despite the objections of the opposition party members, the name ?Qatar Street? was approved with the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members.