A trip to Azerbaijan
Last week I had to make a work-related visit to Azerbaijan. I drove to Tbilisi first, and from there continued to the Azeri border together with a colleague who joined me in Tiblisi. He told me to mention Armenia as little as possible while in Azerbaijan and to leave my Armenian money behind as it was against Azeri law to possess Drams. Apparently they once had an intern in their project, who accidentally paid a taxi-driver in Baku Armenian Drams. Soon after the police turned up at their office to clarify what had happened. (The intern is still alive.)
My colleague’s words of warning and the armed guards at the border made me feel, as if I was an Armenian spy on my way to a hostile country. A really queer feeling. However, crossing the border was not a problem since I already had my visa and our Azeri colleagues welcomed us very warmly.
The 3 days I spent in Azerbaijan were actually very pleasant, although I had to try real hard to replace my habitual “Barev Dsez” by “Salam Aleikum”. I could even talk normally about Armenia with the locals, who work for our project in Azerbaijan, and it was really interesting to hear their opinion on the Karabagh conflict. On the one hand they referred to Karabagh and the corridor as “their land”. On the other hand, they said that fundamentally they did not care which country Karabagh belonged to, as long as a peace agreement was found and the borders were opened again. However, in public no real discussion is possible on this subject as deviating from the official line concerning Karabagh can lead to negative personal consequences. This is hardly surprising in a country where the presidential powers are handed down from father to son, and where you can see pictures of Heydar Aliev and his son Ilham everywhere – which is actually hilarious. Here is one example:
Whatever the political situation, I personally find it very sad, that the borders are closed and that there is a stalemate between Azerbaijan and Armenia. During my stay, I was thinking, what an amazing place the South Caucasus would be for tourism, if it was easier to travel around. Not to mention the potential for trade…
Well, well, the situation will probably not change soon, so for those, who wondered what lies beyond the Sevan mountains, here is a picture from the other side:
(Oops, I hope this picture does not contain secret information. In any case, don’t tell Ilham about this blog…)
My colleague’s words of warning and the armed guards at the border made me feel, as if I was an Armenian spy on my way to a hostile country. A really queer feeling. However, crossing the border was not a problem since I already had my visa and our Azeri colleagues welcomed us very warmly.
The 3 days I spent in Azerbaijan were actually very pleasant, although I had to try real hard to replace my habitual “Barev Dsez” by “Salam Aleikum”. I could even talk normally about Armenia with the locals, who work for our project in Azerbaijan, and it was really interesting to hear their opinion on the Karabagh conflict. On the one hand they referred to Karabagh and the corridor as “their land”. On the other hand, they said that fundamentally they did not care which country Karabagh belonged to, as long as a peace agreement was found and the borders were opened again. However, in public no real discussion is possible on this subject as deviating from the official line concerning Karabagh can lead to negative personal consequences. This is hardly surprising in a country where the presidential powers are handed down from father to son, and where you can see pictures of Heydar Aliev and his son Ilham everywhere – which is actually hilarious. Here is one example:
Whatever the political situation, I personally find it very sad, that the borders are closed and that there is a stalemate between Azerbaijan and Armenia. During my stay, I was thinking, what an amazing place the South Caucasus would be for tourism, if it was easier to travel around. Not to mention the potential for trade…
Well, well, the situation will probably not change soon, so for those, who wondered what lies beyond the Sevan mountains, here is a picture from the other side:
(Oops, I hope this picture does not contain secret information. In any case, don’t tell Ilham about this blog…)
posted by Klaus at 1:16 AM
5 Comments:
Great pictures and thanks for giving the readers some of the Azeri insights.
Great pictures indeed Klaus. Don't worry I already suspected you were a spy... just haven't worked out who your bosses are yet. :-)
Do people who have been in Azerbaijan get looked upon with suspicion when in Armenia? If someone paid a taxi driver with manats instead of drams, will the cops show up like they did in Azerbaijan?
From what I've seen, the Russian border guards in Zvartnots are suspicious bunch but otherwise I felt that noody gave a rat's behind where you had been.
Nope, no problems for ppl who've been to Azerbaijan, for Azeri Manats, or the Azeris themselves if they come. I know Turks and Iranian Azeris come and have a great time in Armenia (and Karabakh). Azeris have come as well, I have read about some, including journalists, but I have not met them myself. Never heard a bad thing about their trips.
There is nothing new. You cant go to the Lebanon if you have a Israeli visa in your passport and Americans who travel to Cuba through Canada or Mexico ask not to stamp their passports.
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