Kars

People enjoy a walk on the ice on Lake Çıldır, which is located between the eastern provinces of Kars and Ardahan, as the temperature has dropped low enough to cause the lake to freeze. (AA Photo)

Some 659 columbariums carved inside a precipice, located a hill of the ancient city of Ani in eastern Kars province, attract visitors' attention. (AA Photo)

The number of COVID-19 cases in the northeastern province of Kars, which had been among cities where coronavirus cases are seen the least, has increased five times after a dinner feast held by a person discharged from hospital and an engagement ceremony two weeks ago.

A farmer known as the "laughing man," who has uncontrollable laughing fits, has drawn the attention of psychiatrists in the northeastern province of Kars.

Kasım Can, 48, recalls having had these fits of loud laughs since birth, but never remembers having cried. He said that he laughed even when his father died. Psychiatrists believe a trauma may underlie in his laughs.

A delegation of EU ambassadors to Turkey was impressed by an archaeological site in Turkey's northeastern Kars province, Ani, also known as "the world city" or "cradle of civilizations".

According to the UNESCO website, Ani, which is next to Turkey's closed border with Armenia, was the capital of medieval Armenian kingdom of the Bagratides in the 10th century.

As frigid cold temperatures spread across Turkey's eastern provinces, people test the weather by throwing boiling water in the air in Kars province.

With the snowfall, Lake Aygır in eastern Kars province reveals scenes of incredible natural beauty. (AA Photo)

While people in big cities welcomed the new year of 2020 with parties, concerts and fireworks, dozens of others opted for a 24-hour journey to one of Turkey's easternmost provinces.

The only migratory brown bears in the world live in the Sarıkamış district of the eastern province of Kars. Before hibernation every year they travel long distances, walking to Artvin in the north in order to find food. This year, they have already returned to their nests in the Sarıkamış forest to go on a months-long sleep.

A touristic version of the Eastern Express, a scenic train service that links the capital Ankara with the eastern province of Kars, will debut on May 29 with an official ceremony attended by Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Cahit Turan and Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.