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                            The year of 1096 
							signaled the beginning of the Crusades and  
							great changes in the Middle East. The Crusaders 
							established their own states in Palestine and Syria 
							and assisted East Roman (Byzantine) empire to draw 
							Seljuk Turks from some of her former Asian provinces... 
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					 In 
							the second quarter of the 13th century the South 
							Caucasus and Asia Minor faced the invasion of the 
							Mongols. By the year 1250, most of the area fell to 
							the Mongols including Georgia, all Armenian lands of 
							the South Caucasus and Central Anatolia.
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