Music fans watch the opening ceremony fireworks of the Eurovision song contest in Baku. (Sitara Ibrahimova)

Kyrgyz men in Ulupamir, Turkey, play the traditional game of ulak-tartysh, or goat-grabbing. (Theodore Kaye)

Teenage girls attend ice hockey practice in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. (Keith Mellnick)

Vahe Avetyan is buried following his brutal beating by security guards at a restaurant in Yerevan. (Anahit Hayrapetyan)

Inga Pareulidze's family moved back to the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia from Chechnya in 2004. (Justyna Mielnikiewicz)

A girl lights a candle in St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Kutaisi, Georgia. (Molly Corso)

A woman in Uzbekistan looks at stranded boats near Moynaq, which was once an Aral Sea port. (Ikuru Kuwajima)

A supporter of the Prosperous Armenia Party attends a political rally during the parliamentary elections. (Anahit Hayrapetyan)

The Pamir Highway heads south into Karakol, Tajikistan. (Keith Mellnick)

Several Nigerians live together in Tbilisi, where they hope to become professional soccer players. (Justyna Mielnikiewicz)

A herder combs out the last strands of cashmere from a relaxed goat in his animal shed in Mongolia. (Pearly Jacob)

Pastor
 Vasiliy Shegay delivers his sermon at the the Sun Bok Ym Pentecostal Church in Almaty. (Dean C.K. Cox)

"Ramadan is sharing" the lights proclaim on an Istanbul mosque. (Jonathan Lewis)

Several hundred ethnic Kyrgyz continue to live in the Little Pamir settlement in Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. (Jeff Waalkes)

A US Marine engages with "counter insurgents" during a press day event at Vaziani Military Base near Tbilisi. (Molly Corso)

A stylist prepares a model for Kyrgyzstan's ProFashion television show in Bishkek. (David Trilling)

Georgia's new Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili relaxes at his home in Tbilisi. (Temo Bardzimashvili)

Lenin's statue is lowered into a truck from the plinth where it stood since 1954 in Ulaanbaatar. (Pearly Jacob)

A village mullah with ethnic Yagnobis in Bedev, Tajikistan, prays in the village mosque. (Theodore Kaye)

Masseur Aleksander Allahivedov works at the Sulphur Bath House in Tbilisi. (Justyna Mielnikiewicz)

A bride prepares for her wedding day in Tajikistan's Pamir mountains. (Ikuru Kuwajima)

Giga Gorgiashvili watches Zakro Nonikashvili evaluating the sharpness of a sword blade in Georgia. (Temo Bardzimashvili)

A Eurasian beaver from Russia enjoys temporary freedom in a small quarantine pool in Mongolia. (Pearly Jacob)

Girls whirl under plates during a traditional Meskhetian wedding in Kant, Kyrgyzstan. (Temo Bardzimashvili)

Several dozen men and women shout insults against homosexuality during a diversity march in Yerevan. (Anahit Hayrapetyan)

Prominent Turkish artist Ali Kotan stands near a painting from his new "white series" in his Ankara gallery. (Justin Vela)

Georgia plays Russia in a rugby match in Tbilisi that Georgia won 46-0. (Justyna Mielnikiewicz)

Ravza Melle, an ethnic Tatar, plays traditional music on an accordion in Turkey. (Justin Vela)

Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence features displays on everyday Istanbul life drawn from the book’s 83 chapters. (Dorian Jones)

Sweden's Loreen won the Eurovision contest in Baku. (Sitara Ibrahimova)