When the Traveler Unwittingly Steps across Geopolitical Fault Lines

The immigration official at the Armenian land border with Georgia looked quite hostile.  "What were you doing in Azerbaijan?" He asked rather angrily as he flipped through the passport to find the unexpected Azerbaijani entry and exit stamps.  When he received the usual "tourism" answer, he was simply unconvinced, deciding to take a copy of the passport page with the Azerbaijani stamps before allowing the passport holder into the country.

 

When the author recounted the little travel story during a travelers' meetup in Yerevan, the Armenian capital city, locals simply shrugged it off.  "Armenians just check a couple people once in a while, it is no big deal.  They still let you into the country right?" The locals remarked nonchalantly, "you should see the Azeris.  If they find a foreigner with Armenian stamps in his passport, they would not even let him into the country at all!" While there is no way to test the claim, apparently the hostility is quite mutual.

Indeed, the physical symbolism of the hostility is all there.  The large Armenian Church in downtown Baku has been converted into a warehouse for lack of worshippers, while maps produced in Armenia certainly put Nagorno-Karabakh, the disputed region between the two countries, as an Armenian "autonomous republic."  As a foreigner, it certainly is not a good idea to get the locals started on the topic, as it is almost certain conversation would break down into heated exchange of what land is Armenian and what Azeri.

As far as Armenia is concerned, the hostility with the Azeris is not the only troubling foreign relationship.  Historical animosity with the Turks, stemming from continued Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide conducted by the Ottomans at the turn of the 20th century, ensures that the country border with Turkey, just like that with Azerbaijan, remain shut off to all traffic for the foreseeable future.  Even relations with Georgia is testy due to Georgians' welcoming of Azeri and Turkish investments in their country.

For the causal traveler here to witness the country's beautiful sights and vibrant culture, there simply is no intention to get into the details of regional rivalries.  Given the geographical proximity of Turkey and the three Caucasus countries, it is highly expected that many foreigners make go to all four countries in the same trip, so to save the cost and time of having to visit different countries across multiple trips.  The geopolitical issues the region faces become a rather irritating obstacle.

Of course, the Caucasus region is not unique in rivalries making life difficult for tourists.  Just in the author's personal experience, the conflicts between Israel and Lebanon, Serbia and Kosovo, Northern and Southern Cyprus all entail similarly hostile immigration officials too keen on checking to see if there are unwanted stamps in foreigners' passports.  The resulting delays from extra security checks and interrogations on intentions of travel reduce the enthusiasm of the unwitting travelers.

To be sure, for travelers to truly understand the region that they are traveling in, an understanding of the contemporary and historical conflicts are certainly important.  After all, it is often the presence and expression of such rivalries that help shape the very identities of different peoples with respect of their neighbors.  Understanding the political situations also ensure that no sensitive topics are raised out of ignorance that put the travelers in the hot seats in their interactions with locals.

But at the same time, there should be at least some efforts by authorities in the feuding countries to shield foreign tourists from the realities of hostilities on the ground.  Putting tourists in the crossfire of hostile ethnic relations only provide travelers with bad memories of travel, ones that they have no qualms about spreading back home.  Too visible of a display of regional hostilities only serve to reduce potential tourist dollars for all countries involved.  That is in no one's interest.