I paid a visit to Armenia several months ago and a recent one to Nakhchivan, an Azeri-populated autonomous enclave that borders the Iğdır province of Turkey. In the latter case, there were two dozen 18-wheel trucks carrying construction material to the other side. The drivers were keen to continue their work when the border is opened with neighboring Armenia. Almost everyone, ranging from apathetic people to ultra-nationalists, is waiting for the border to open and for trade and travel to start. This feeling was mutual for many Armenians, most Turks and Azeris alike. They want to break out of their restricted world marked and closed by political borders, though nature put up few barriers to separate them. The economic and human potential at this corner of the Caucasus is so visible that when political differences are finally reconciled and ideological molds are shattered, entrepreneurship, partnerships and mutual investments will change the face of this region to an unrecognizable level in 10 years. People seem like athletes who are warming up before the big race.

The nationalist propaganda on all three sides (Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan) will have little opportunity to be effective. People on the Turkish side (Iğdır and Kars) and Nakhchivan on the other side of the border are pretty sure that after so much contact between Turkish and Azeri authorities, Turks would not let go of their Azeri brethren. With that being said, the locals also think that the conflict that erupted in the Nagorno-Karabakh region due to the style of management by Azeri authorities is a domestic Azeri problem. It has to be solved by Karabakh Armenians and Baku.

Again everyone in the region knows two more fundamental secrets: 1. If these territories are held for ransom by Armenia to secure a settlement on the Karabakh issue, Azeris are close to completing the training of their armed forces to settle the issue by means other than diplomatic ones. There is no doubt that this war will not last more than three days before “big powers” intervene and force a settlement. 2. The Karabakh region will be equipped with the most advanced rights of autonomy by the Azeri government and what is still debated is not this issue but the width of the Laçin corridor that unites Karabakh with Armenia. So everyone is looking to a promising future, not the problems of today.

While Armenians are under the spell of a past that they grieve over for the loss of lives and a homeland during the last decade of the Ottoman Empire, more of them are getting out of this spell without forgetting the past. They are opening up the psychological door to relations that will make their lives better and satisfy their needs. Some of these needs may be met in Turkey and through association with Turks who have nothing to do with painful and regrettable events of the past. For one thing, an increasing number of individuals and groups of Armenians choose Turkey as their favorite summer vacation site. Antalya, Turkey's popular Mediterranean resort town, whose environs offer skiing on the mountains and swimming on the beaches, is the number one choice of Armenian tourists. Travel agents have discovered that the unsavory past does not hinder growing rapprochement between visiting Armenians and local Turks. In fact they are learning from each other and share what they have learned from their elders and official sources. This contact and ensuing discourse have brought the two peoples closer to each other and may have helped the signing of the protocols to soon initiate diplomatic and commercial relations.

There are other alluring factors that bring Armenians to Antalya and elsewhere in Turkey: low prices and high-quality customer service. In 2008, around 8,000 Armenians visited Antalya, but this year it is estimated that this number doubled. Armavia, an airline bearing the Armenian national flag, began four direct flights to Antalya each week from Yerevan, which are almost always full. Considering that visiting Armenians express their satisfaction with a range of travel options in Turkey and relatively low prices for good quality hotels and services, they leave sour feelings behind for a good vacation.

Armenian travel agents offer tours to Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy and Jordan among other countries, but 70 percent of Armenians that fly out of their country seem to prefer Turkey, especially Antalya.

Armenians coming to Turkey may be a sign of normalization and accepting facts of life like swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. Any citizen of a landlocked country would feel the same — just like myself, living in Ankara and dreaming of the Mediterranean all year long. This longing is evident in the posters of Antalya's attractive sun-drenched beaches hanging on the walls of buildings in Yerevan.

While it is a dream destination for some, it is a provocation for others. Those posters are diluting the Armenian resolve to subdue the Turkish resistance to admitting what happened in the first quarter of the 20th century. It did not take too long for a youth group from the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Dashnaktsutyun, to rally for the removal of those posters. They went to the Yerevan mayor's office and demanded that the Antalya posters be brought down and not hung up again. The mayor's office has not yet acted on the request. If the borders are opened soon, they will never be brought down.

The nationalists' logic against traveling and vacationing in Turkey in general and in Antalya in particular is just like the Turkish leftists' logic: Every penny that goes to the “enemy” will return to us as arms and aggression or exploitation. This must be the universal language of all nationalists and chauvinists. One poster that was put up against traveling to Turkey and Antalya read as follows: “Armenians who spend their vacation in Antalya are arming the Turkish army.” Being a university student in 1968, it is like déjà vu for me. It seems every generation lives through similar cycles of rebellion, realization and reconciliation. But for the time being, those who protest against Armenians visiting Antalya have taken up the mission of reminding people what they seem to have forgotten and to sober them up regarding their national obligations, like continuing to hate Turks.

Another slogan shared by the nationalists on both sides of the border says: “Turkey shouldn't have won us over.” Turkish nationalists said the same thing when nearly three dozen militants belonging to the notorious terrorist organization, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), came from Iraq and surrendered to Turkish authorities. As promised, they were interrogated but due to a lack of criminal records they were released. They returned to their hometowns with joy and were greeted with public demonstrations. This was enough to forget why they came back: to surrender and end hostilities. The government was accused of giving the impression that the mighty Turkish army was defeated by the terrorists and all that nonsense.

Government employees are not officially warned against vacationing in Turkey but the psychology in official institutions is not that conducive. Furthermore, the Armenian Ministry of the Economy is encouraging competitive domestic tours to destinations like Lake Sevan, the mountain resort of Tsakhkadzor, the mineral water spa of Jermuk and the historical Nagorno-Karabakh region. Presently vacation packages to these sights start at about $700 while Antalya offers a week of good service, sea and sun for only $450.

Well, you may be a patriot, but there is nothing better than a good warm vacation after a whole year's hard work, especially when your old foe is serving you with a friendly smile.

Dogu Ergil/Today’s Zaman