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The Concept of Western Azerbaijan
<p>Pan-Turkism is a political movement which emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals of the Russian region of Shirvan (now central Azerbaijan) and the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey). The aim being the cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples. Ziya Gökalp defined pan-Turkism as a cultural, academic, and philosophical and political concept advocating […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Dec 13, 20201 min read
Operation Ring
<p>Operation Ring, known in Azerbaijan as the Chaykend Operation, was the codename for the May 1991 military operation conducted by Soviet Internal Security Forces and OMON units in the Armenian populated regions of Western Azerbaijan in the Lesser Caucasus mountains, the Shusha, Martakert and Hadrut regions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, and along the northwestern […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Dec 13, 20201 min read
The cycle of death and rebirth – creation and transformation
<p>Samsara is a 2011 American non-narrative documentary film of international imagery directed by Ron Fricke and produced by Mark Magidson, who also collaborated on Baraka (1992), a film of a similar vein, and Chronos (1985). Samsara explores the wonders of our world from the mundane to the miraculous, looking into the unfathomable reaches of humanity’s […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Dec 13, 20201 min read
Armenian Churches
<p>Armenian Churches Echmiadzin Grigor Lusavorich Khor Virap Tatev Haghartsin St. Thaddeus Dadivank Hagbat Geghard Karapet – Noravank St. Astvatsatsin – Noravank Ashtarak Hripsime Gayane Varak Akdamar Zvartnots Holy Trinity Cathedral Priest Icons Echmiadzin: Etchmiadzin Cathedral in Armenia, completed in 303 AD, UNESCO World Heritage Site, religious centre of the world’s oldest Christian state. Grigor Lusavorich: […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
May 27, 20201 min read
The Rosette Symbol
<p>A rosette is a round, stylized flower design, used extensively in sculptural objects from antiquity. Appearing in Mesopotamia and used to decorate the funeral stele in Ancient Greece. Adopted later in Romaneseque and Renaissance, and also common in the art of Central Asia, spreading as far as India where it is used as a decorative […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Mar 12, 202016 min read
Ancient Kingdom of Lydia Has Re-Appeared to Haunt Armenia
<p>Lydian International and its Armenian subsidiary are making national headlines in Armenia regarding the highly controversial Amulsar gold mine, which is expected to resume operations after the government indicated it is giving a green light for the project. However, hundreds if not thousands of environmentalists and others are protesting the move, arguing that it will […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Feb 2, 20201 min read
Armenian Carpets: Past, Present, Future
<p>It is still unknown when the carpets were used first, but some archeologists proved that they appeared in 2-1 millennium BC. Traditionally, since ancient times, the carpets and tufted rugs were used in Armenia to cover floors, decorate interior walls, sofas, chairs, beds and tables. Up to present the carpets often serve as entrance veils, […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Feb 2, 20201 min read
The Muslim Scholar Ibn Battuta
<p>The title of “history’s most famous traveler” usually goes to Marco Polo, the great Venetian wayfarer who visited China in the 13th century. For sheer distance covered, however, Polo trails far behind the Muslim scholar Ibn Battuta. Though little known outside the Islamic world, Battuta spent half his life tramping across vast swaths of the […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Feb 2, 20201 min read
In Memoriam: 28 Indigenous Rights Defenders Murdered in Latin America in 2019
<p>As we enter 2020, Cultural Survival remembers 28 courageous Indigenous human rights and environmental defenders who were murdered in 2019 in the Latin American countries where we do our work. We invite you to take a moment to learn about and support the human rights and environmental defense work being carried out by these individuals […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Feb 2, 20201 min read


Return of the Caucasian Leopard
<p>The Persian leopard, also known as the Caucasian leopard is a leopard population in the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The Persian leopard was previously considered a distinct subspecies, Panthera pardus saxicolor or Panthera pardus ciscaucasica,[2] but is now assigned to the subspecies Panthera pardus tulliana, which also includes the Anatolian leopard in Turkey. […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Feb 2, 20202 min read
Manifest Destiny in the History of the US
<p>Armenia will perhaps move closer to the US – not so much because of the Armenian government but because of the Armenian population – like all the rest of the world population many are looking up to the US like insects towards the light … The Anglo-American culture has flood the world and English has […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 31, 20206 min read
Matsun-Making In The Armenian Highlands Is 5000 Years Old
<p>Milk churn A 5,000-year-old milk – churn was found in Amasia in Western Armenia. The churn made 5000 years ago in the Bronze Age has a length of 30 cm. Rings for suspension ropes are also preserved. In addition to this churn, there are churns dating from the same periods from wood, clay and leather. […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 28, 20202 min read
Denial is the Final and Ultimate Stage of Genocide
<p>In the Obersalzberg Speech, a speech given by Adolf Hitler to Wehrmacht commanders at his Obersalzberg home on 22 August 1939, a week before the German invasion of Poland, Hitler asked: «Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?» The Armenian Genocide is acknowledged to have been one of the first modern […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 28, 20202 min read
Origin of the Indo-Europeans
<p>According to the widely held Kurgan hypothesis, c.q. renewed Steppe hypothesis, the oldest branch were the Anatolian languages, which split from the earliest proto-Indo-European speech community (archaic PIE), which developed at the Volga basin. The second-oldest branch, the Tocharian languages, were spoken in the Tarim Basin (present-day western China), and split-off from early PIE, which […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 25, 202026 min read
Meghri and the 17th century Surp Hovhannes Church
<p>Meghri (Armenian: Մեղրի), is a town and the center of the urban community of Meghri, in Syunik Province at the south of Armenia, near the border with Iran. The area of present-day Meghri has been settled since the Bronze Age. Many archaeological sites are found in the vicinity of the town dating back to the […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 23, 20204 min read
History of the Cat
<p>The Norwegian forest cat (or scogkatts in Norwegian) originated between 1500 and 4,000 years ago, as a result of natural selection. Though they almost went extinct during World War II, the ancient cats are making a comeback in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and even France. Their exact origin is up for debate. One theory is the […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 15, 20204 min read
Sulawesi art: Animal painting found in cave in Indonesia
<p>The Indonesian drawing is not the oldest in the world. Last year, scientists said they found “humanity’s oldest drawing” on a fragment of rock in South Africa, dated at 73,000 years old. Sulawesi art: Animal painting found in cave is 44,000 years old</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 15, 20201 min read
The Origin of Raouché, Lebanon
<p>Raouché (Arabic: الروشة, romanized: ar-Rawše) is a residential and commercial neighborhood in Beirut Central District, Beirut, Lebanon. It is known for its upscale apartment buildings, numerous restaurants, and cliff-side cafés that line Avenue de Paris, a seaside promenade which forms part of the Corniche Beirut. Corniche Beirut has its foundation in the Avenue des Français, […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 15, 202072 min read
Santa from Iraq (Sumer)
<p>Every year millions of children around the world anxiously wait for the arrival of Santa Claus. Parents tell stories of the man with the white beard, red coat and polished boots who travels the world with his reindeer bearing gifts for all those who were well-behaved. Perhaps one day, parents will also tell the story […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 15, 20204 min read
The Story of Ethiopian Armenians
<p>There is a small community of Armenians in Ethiopia, primarily in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Armenians had traded with Ethiopia from as early as the first century AD. The Armenian population peaked in shortly before the Italian invasion in 1935 at around 2,800. By the fall of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974, it was […]</p>

Ryan Moorhen
Jan 15, 20207 min read
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