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Baku–Tbilisi–Kars Railway
The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK), or Baku–Tbilisi–Akhalkalaki–Kars railway (BTAK), is an international rail link project connecting Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, which became operational on 30 October 2017 following several years of delays. The project was originally due to be completed by 2010, but was delayed to 2013, 2015, and, following a fifth trilateral meeting in February 2016, foreign ministers of the three countries announced that the railway would finally be completed in 2017. Following the first test run by a passenger train from Tbilisi to Akhalkalaki on 27 September 2017, the BTK was inaugurated for cargo service on 30 October 2017, in a ceremony in Alyat hosted by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars project was intended to provide a rail corridor linking Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia whilst avoiding Armenia, following the closure of the Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway in 1993, as a result of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haydarpaşa Railway Station
Haydarpaşa station ( tr, Haydarpaşa Garı) is a railway station in Istanbul, that was, until 2012 the main city terminal for trains travelling to and from the Anatolian side of Turkey. It used to be Turkey's busiest railway station. (Its counterpart on the European side of the city was Sirkeci station which served train services to and from the Thracian side of the country.) The station building still houses the headquarters for District 1 of the State Railways but since a fire in 2010 the station has not been in use and its future remains uncertain. Haydarpaşa stands on an embankment over the Bosphorus just south of the Port of Haydarpaşa (one of the main container terminals in Turkey) and is slightly north of busy Kadıköy. Until the rail service was suspended, ferry services connected it to Eminönü, Karaköy and Kadıköy. The closure of the station has been very controversial and a group known as the Haydarpaşa Solidarity Group ( tr, Haydarpaşa Dayanışması) has s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aktau
Aktau ( kk, Aqtau, Ақтау , russian: Актау) is a city in Kazakhstan, located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Its current name means "white mountain" in Kazakh, which may be due to its cliffs that overlook the Caspian. From 1964 to 1991, the city was known as Shevchenko. Its former name was given due to the eponymous Ukrainian poet's period of exile in the area. It is located on the Mangyshlak Peninsula and is the capital of the Mangystau Region. Aktau is known for its unique block address system. Almost no streets in Aktau have names; instead, addresses generally consist of three numbers: the district number (also known as micro-region/micro-district/block), the building number, and the apartment number. This is because Aktau was originally planned as a camp for the workers of the oil industry. History The territory of what is now Aktau was once inhabited by ancient tribes of Scythians. Archeological finds in the area include old settlements and utensils. The cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcaucasia
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, which are sometimes collectively known as the Caucasian States. The total area of these countries measures about . The South Caucasus and the North Caucasus together comprise the larger Caucasus geographical region that divides Eurasia. Geography The South Caucasus spans the southern portion of the Caucasus Mountains and their lowlands, straddling the border between the continents of Europe and Asia, and extending southwards from the southern part of the Main Caucasian Range of southwestern Russia to the Turkish and Armenian borders, and from the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea coast of Iran in the east. The area includes the southern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, the entire Lesser C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transcaucasus Railway
The Transcaucus Railway (russian: Закавка́зская желе́зная доро́га) was the first railway in South Caucasus.Большая Советская Энциклопедия. Гл. ред. Б. А. Введенский, 2-е изд. Т. 16. Железо — Земли. 1952. 672 стр., илл.; 51 л. илл. и карт. It was funded by the Russian Empire as a strategic railway connecting the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. The railway would allow the Russian army to have better control of Caucasia. Also with the Trans-Caspian railway, Russia could transport troops from Central Asia much faster. The railway operated as a private company between 1865–1922 and a subsidiary railway of the Soviet Railways from 1922–1991. History Russian Empire (1865-1917) The railway started in 1865 at the port town of Poti on the Black Sea. The railway reached Zestafoni in 1871 and T'bilisi in 1872. The contractor for this part of the line was Messrs G.B. Crawley and Co. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world located below sea level. Baku lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, alongside the Bay of Baku. Baku's urban population was estimated at two million people as of 2009. Baku is the primate city of Azerbaijan—it is the sole metropolis in the country, and about 25% of all inhabitants of the country live in Baku's metropolitan area. Baku is divided into twelve administrative raions and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, and the town of Oil Rocks built on stilts in the Caspian Sea, away from Baku. The Inner City of Baku, along with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. The c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura (Caspian Sea), Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Tbilisi was founded in the 5th century Anno Domini, AD by Vakhtang I of Iberia, and since then has served as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Between 1801 and 1917, then part of the Russian Empire, Tiflis was the seat of the Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), Caucasus Viceroyalty, governing both the North Caucasus, northern and the Transcaucasia, southern parts of the Caucasus. Because of its location on the crossroads between Europe and Asia, and its proximity to the lucrative Silk Road, throughout history Tbilisi was a point of contention among various global powers. The city's location to this day ensures its p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poti
Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis and deriving its name from the same, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also home to a main naval base and the headquarters of the Georgian Navy. Etymology The name Poti is linked to Phasis, but the etymology is a matter of a scholarly dispute. "Phasis" () is first recorded in Hesiod's ''Theogony'' (c. 700 BC) as a name of the river, not a town. Since Erich Diehl, 1938, first suggested a non-Hellenic origin of the name and asserted that Phasis might have been a derivative of a local hydronym, several explanations have been proposed, linking the name to the Proto-Georgian-Zan ''*Poti'', Svan ''*Pasid'', and even to a Semitic word, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonnes
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United States customary units), and the long ton ( British imperial units). It is equivalent to approximately 2204.6 pounds, 1.102 short tons, and 0.984 long tons. The official SI unit is the megagram (symbol: Mg), a less common way to express the same mass. Symbol and abbreviations The BIPM symbol for the tonne is t, adopted at the same time as the unit in 1879.Table 6 . BIPM. Retrieved on 2011-07-10. Its use is also official for the metric ton in the United States, having been adopted by the United States |
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, entangled themselves in protracted, undeclared mountain warfare in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting with Armenia and a referendum, boycotted by the Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh, was held, in which a majority voted in favor of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia began in a relatively peaceful manner in 1988; in the following months, as the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi Railway
The Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway line is a railway line that runs from the city of Kars in Turkey to the Armenian city of Gyumri, and from there on to Tbilisi, Georgia. Originally completed in 1899, the railway was highly important during the Soviet era, both as the only direct rail link between Turkey and the USSR (Kars-Gyumri), and as one of the two main railway connections between Armenia and other Soviet Republics (Gyumri-Tbilisi). While the Gyumri-Tbilisi section remains Armenia's lifeline to the outside world, the Kars-Gyumri section has not been operational since 1993, when Turkey closed the border with Armenia, following the first Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in support of the Azeris. Because the Kars–Gyumri section has been inoperative due to the closed Turkish-Armenian border, an agreement was signed in April 2005 to build a direct connection across the Turkish-Georgian border from Kars to Akhalkalaki in Georgia, and to rehabi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev became president of Azerbaijan in 2003 following his father's death, in an 2003 Azerbaijani presidential election, election defined by election fraud. Azerbaijan being oil-rich has strengthened the stability of Aliyev's regime and enriched ruling elites in Azerbaijan, making it possible for the country to host lavish international events, as well as engage in extensive lobbying efforts. Aliyev's family have enriched themselves through their ties to state-run businesses. They own significant parts of several major Azerbaijani banks, construction firms and telecommunications firms, and partially owns the country's oil and gas industries. Much of the wealth is hidden through an elaborate network of offshore companies. He was nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
