TEHRAN – A total of 75 tourism-related projects are scheduled to be completed across Iran’s northwestern East Azarbaijan province in the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21), provincial tourism chief has said.

“75 projects will be inaugurated by the yearend which is expected to significantly boost travel infrastructure in East Azarbaijan,” Ahmad Hamzehzadeh said on Sunday, CHTN reported.

Some 30 restoration projects on historical monuments, hotels and recreational centers will be implemented by the private investor, the official said.

Soaked in history and culture for millennia, Tabriz, which is capital of East Azarbaijan, embraces several historical and religious sites, including Jameh Mosque of Tabriz and Arg of Tabriz, and UNESCO-registered Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex to name a few. The city became the capital of the Mongol Il-Khan Mahmud Gazan (1295–1304) and his successor. Timur (Tamerlane), a Turkic conqueror, took it in 1392. Some decades later the Kara Koyunlu Turkmen made it their capital, it was when the famous Blue Mosque was built in Tabriz.

The city retained its administrative status under the Safavid dynasty until 1548, when Shah Tahmasp I relocated his capital westward to Qazvin. During the next two centuries, Tabriz changed hands several times between Persia and Ottoman Empire. During the World War I, the city was temporarily occupied by Turkish and then Soviet troops.

AFM/MG