ethnic_group ahmad ghazi
Tehran ( " Tehrn ") is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province . With a population of around 9 million in the city and 16 million in the wider metropolitan area , Tehran is the most populous city of Iran , the 2nd - most populous city in Western ___MASK37___ and the 3rd - largest metropolitan area in the Middle East . It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan area . Kurdistan ( or ) ( Kurdish : ; " Homeland of the Kurds " or " Land of the Kurds "; also formerly spelled " Curdistan "; ancient name : " Corduene ") or Greater Kurdistan , is a roughly defined geo - cultural region wherein the ___MASK72___ form a prominent majority population , and Kurdish culture , language , and national identity have historically been based . Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges . Contemporary use of the term refers to four parts of Kurdistan , which include southeastern Turkey ( Northern Kurdistan ), northern Syria ( Rojava or Western Kurdistan ), northern Iraq ( Southern Kurdistan ), and northwestern Iran ( Eastern Kurdistan ). Some Kurdish nationalist organizations seek to create an independent nation state consisting of some or all of these areas with a Kurdish majority , while others campaign for greater autonomy within the existing national boundaries . A Bachelor of Arts ( BA , B . A ., AB or A . B . from the ___MASK9___ " artium baccalaureus " or " baccalaureus artium ") is a bachelor ' s degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts , the sciences , or both . Bachelor of Arts degree programs generally take three to four years depending on the country , academic institution , and specific specializations , majors or minors . The word " baccalaureus " or " baccalarium " ( from the ___MASK9___ " bacca ", a berry , and " laureus ", " of the bay laurel ") should not be confused with " baccalaureatus " ( translatable as " gold - plated scepter " by using the Latina " bacum " and " aureatus "), which refers to the one - to two - year postgraduate " Bachelor of Arts with Honours " degree (" Baccalaureatus in Artibus Cum Honore ") in some countries . Transcaucasia , or the South Caucasus , is a geopolitical region in the vicinity of the southern Caucasus Mountains on the border of Eastern ___MASK70___ and Western ___MASK37___ . Transcaucasia roughly corresponds to modern Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan . Transcaucasia and Ciscaucasia ( North Caucasus ) together comprise the larger Caucasus geographical region that divides Eurasia . Western ___MASK37___ , West ___MASK37___ , Southwestern ___MASK37___ or Southwest ___MASK37___ is the westernmost subregion of ___MASK37___ . The concept is in limited use , as it significantly overlaps with the Middle East ( or Near East ), the main difference being the exclusion of Egypt ( which would be counted as part of North Africa ). The term is sometimes used for the purposes of grouping countries in statistics . Iraq (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of Iraq ('; ') is a country in Western ___MASK37___ , bordered by Turkey to the north , Iran to the east , Kuwait to the southeast , Saudi Arabia to the south , Jordan to the southwest , and Syria to the west . The capital , and largest city , is Baghdad . The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds ; others include Assyrians , Turkmen , Shabakis , Yazidis , Armenians , Mandeans , Circassians , and Kawliya . Around 95 % of the country ' s 36 million citizens are Muslims , with Christianity , Yarsan , Yezidism , and Mandeanism also present . The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish . Shirvanshah , also spelled as Shrwn Shh or Sharwn Shh , was the title of the rulers of Shirvan , located in modern Azerbaijan , from the mid - 9th century to the early 16th century . The title remained in a single family , the Yazidids , an originally ___MASK92___ but gradually Persianized dynasty , although the later " Shirvanshahs " are also known as the Kasranids or Kaqanids . The Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan ( located in modern Azerbaijan Republic ). Iran (, also , ; ' ), also known as Persia , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (' ), is a sovereign state in Western ___MASK37___ . It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia , the " de facto " Nagorno - Karabakh Republic , and Azerbaijan ; to the north by the Caspian Sea ; to the northeast by Turkmenistan ; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan ; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman ; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq . Comprising a land area of , it is the second - largest country in the Middle East and the 18th - largest in the world . With 82 . 8 million inhabitants , Iran is the world ' s 17th - most - populous country . It is the only country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline . The country ' s central location in Eurasia and Western ___MASK37___ , and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz , make it of great geostrategic importance . Tehran is the country ' s capital and largest city , as well as its leading economic center . A bachelor ' s degree ( from Middle ___MASK9___ " baccalaureus ") or baccalaureate ( from Modern ___MASK9___ " baccalaureatus ") is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to seven years ( depending on institution and academic discipline ). In some institutions and educational systems , some bachelor ' s degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate degrees after a first degree has been completed . In countries with qualifications frameworks , bachelor ' s degrees are normally one of the major levels in the framework ( sometimes two levels where non - honours and honours bachelor ' s degrees are considered separately ), although some qualifications titled bachelor ' s degrees may be at other levels ( e . g . MBBS ) and some qualifications with non - bachelor ' s titles may be classified as bachelor ' s degrees ( e . g . the Scottish MA and Canadian MD ). ___MASK9___ ( ___MASK9___ : ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo - European languages . The ___MASK9___ alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . The ___MASK87___ is a transcontinental region centered on Western ___MASK37___ and Egypt . The corresponding adjective is " Middle - Eastern " and the derived noun is " Middle - Easterner ". The term has come into wider usage as a replacement of the term Near East ( as opposed to Far East ) beginning in the early 20th century . Shah ( pronounced , " king ") is a title given to the emperors , kings , princes and lords of Iran ( historically also known as Persia ). It was also adopted by the kings of Shirvan ( a historical Iranian region in Transcaucasia ) namely the Shirvanshahs , the rulers and offspring of the Ottoman Empire ( in that context spelled as " eh "), Mughal emperors of the Indian Subcontinent , the Bengal Sultanate , as well as in Georgia and Afghanistan . In Iran ( Persia and Greater Persia ) the title was continuously used ; rather than King in the ___MASK20___ sense , each Persian ruler regarded himself as the " Šhanšh " ( King of Kings ) or Emperor of the Persian Empire . Syria , officially known as the Syrian ___MASK92___ Republic (""), is a country in Western ___MASK37___ , bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west , Turkey to the north , Iraq to the east , Jordan to the south , and Israel to the southwest . Syria ' s capital and largest city is Damascus . The Bengal Sultanate , officially the Sultanate of Bengal , was a ___MASK27___ state and empire based in the Indian subcontinent on the coast of the Bay of Bengal . It was an important power in South and Southeast ___MASK37___ . Its rulers carried the title of King of Kings in the East . The kingdom ' s heartland was in Bengal , which is today divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal , but its realm included large parts of North India and western Myanmar . Its bordering countries included the Delhi Sultanate , Tibet , Ahom and Burmese states . Ahmad Ghazi ( 1936 -- 7 June 2015 ) was a Kurdish writer and translator . He was born in 1936 in Mahabad . He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English in Tehran Higher Institute of Languages in 1958 . He played an active role in Iranian Kurdistan struggles for political sovereignty in the 1970s , because of which he was imprisoned under Shah ' s rule for four years . After the Iranian Revolution of 1979 , he managed himself to write and translate literary and historical works both in Kurdish and Persian . He was the editor in Chief of Sirwe , a then popular cultural and literary magazine in Kurdish , from 1986 to 2006 . He is also a selected member of the Kurdish Language Academy in Iran . Kurdish culture is a group of distinctive cultural traits practiced by ___MASK72___ . The Kurdish culture is a legacy from ancient peoples who shaped modern Kurds and their society . The Kurds (  ) also the ___MASK72___ are an ethnic group in the Middle East , mostly inhabiting a contiguous area spanning adjacent parts of eastern and southeastern Turkey ( Northern Kurdistan ), western Iran ( Eastern or Iranian Kurdistan ), northern Iraq ( Southern or Iraqi Kurdistan ), and northern Syria ( Western Kurdistan or Rojava ). The Kurds are culturally and linguistically closely related to the Iranian peoples and , as a result , are often themselves classified as an Iranian people . Turkey , officially the Republic of Turkey ( Turkish : ), is a transcontinental country in Eurasia , mainly in Anatolia in Western ___MASK37___ , with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe . Turkey is a democratic , secular , unitary , parliamentary republic with a diverse cultural heritage . Turkey is bordered by eight countries : Greece to the west ; Bulgaria to the northwest ; Georgia to the northeast ; Armenia , the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to the east ; and Iraq and Syria to the south . The Aegean Sea is to the west , the Black Sea to the north , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . The Bosphorus , the Sea of Marmara , and the Dardanelles , which together form the Turkish Straits , divide Thrace and Anatolia ; they also separate Europe and ___MASK37___ . Turkey ' s location has given it geopolitical and strategic importance throughout history . The Ottoman Empire ('; Modern Turkish : ' or '), also known as the Turkish Empire , Ottoman Turkey , was an empire founded at the end of the thirteenth century in northwestern Anatolia in the vicinity of Bilecik and Söüt by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman . After 1354 , the Ottomans crossed into ___MASK70___ , and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire . The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror .