Do you talk about this kind of things during breakfast when you visit a country? Mind boggles.

Don't discuss politics is standard guidebook advice, isn't it? Along with don't travel to warzones, don't take drugs, always use condoms, don't utilise the services of the local sex workers etc. etc. All the things that you or I would know to never risk, but apparently some still do, hence the advice is still thought worth giving..

I gave it special mention as it's an especially sensitive topic, and you could argue that a conscientious tourist should have at least some awareness of the history of the area before they visit.

> Don't mention the Armenian genocide.

What happens when you do? Do people just stop being nice to you or way more?

Without any idea of the correct answer, I just know that it's a bad idea. Don't bring up politics in a foreign country.

Or in your native country.

Or on facebook.

For example, on the way to Ani our taxi driver stopped at a memorial at the side of the road and told us hundreds of Turks were killed by Armenians in various horrendous ways here. Never mind that the generally received version is pretty much the exact opposite! I kept my lip firmly buttoned.

As a Turkish who's not in denial, I can tell you that some people may go great lengths to change your mind. I can guarantee that you'll be, at the very least, annoyed for no reason. It's a very sensitive subject and has been a propaganda factor from both sides. It's not that I'm insensitive to the people who lost their lives in this genocide, I'm just claiming that it's been abused.

Both Armenians and Turkish people in the area are otherwise peaceful.

Could you please clarify what you mean by the claim that the genocide has been abused? Should the Armenians be less outraged, stop fighting for its recognition, exclude it from history curriculum or something?

Both parties are abused. No body gives a damn about Armenians or Turks. Not really. Other countries are using this to exploit both countries however it is possible. That's enough abuse. It's politics and it's disgusting.

Turkey needs to recognize the Genocide, instead it's putting all its effort into denial propaganda inside and outside Turkey. They even made Armenians not bringing it up a precondition for opening the border. Until Turkey can be honest Armenians will fight for truth to be preserved outside of Turkey. This may be an abstract issue for you but most Armenians today still are just one generation away from survivors and their stories. Should Armenians just let Turkey keep adding insult to injury? This is an article about an area where Armenians lived for millennia and there are none left by now, how did that happen?

You're completely missing my point. Although the main issue is the violence and genocide dispute between 2 nations (just making an objective remark that covers both sides), you can't just look at this matter only from that perspective. It's all about power leverage and gain. I have Armenian friends living in Turkey labeled traitors by the diaspora in the States who are not oppressed like their counterparts in Turkey. That is just another disgusting aspect of humans. It's hypocrisy.

It's not a "dispute", no more than Holocaust was. You trying to make this some kind of argument that has two sides is an insult to me. Jewish people don't have to listen to Germans complaining how Jewish killed so many Germans in Warsaw. Turks drafted our men to "labor battalions", slaughtered them, and slaughtered remaining women and children. I have heard first hand stories of people who survived but lost most of their family. The pain is real, I can't look at it abstractly. And the nonsense about Armenian friends living in Turkey labeled traitors is nonsense. Armenians outside Turkey understand they live under an oppressive regime (see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_301_(Turkish_Penal_Cod...), and can be murdered any time by nationalists like Hrant Dink was so we don't expect them to be to vocal about Genocide.

You're still not seeing my point. I'm talking about some utterly different aspect but it seems like due to your closer involvement it's unable for you to isolate and try to understand and question that point. I wasn't denying anything including Turkish State's penal code (which is not solely directed to the Armenian population) or suggesting that Armenians shouldn't be vocal on the matter or devaluating anyone's pain but you on the other hand are exactly doing that by calling some also real pain nonsense. You are the one being aggressive. There are Turkish citizens of Armenian origin who are under pressure from people living the USA. It's of course not the general action from abroad but it exists. Still, I see that you have lost the ability for scientific reasoning. Try to lose that dogmatic point of view and try to calmly evaluate what people are saying. This way you're just hurting your cause.

As I mentioned in the other comment thread, you'll enjoy the culture and the relationships if you manage your political ambition. Travel gives its best taste when you focus on the moment that you are.

Some of us enjoy the angry debates... :)

> Don't mention the Armenian genocide.

Also don't be Jewish.

Being jewish isn't a problem in Turkey in general. In Southeast Turkey (Kars, Van etc) it's probably more of a concern if you're Kurdish due to historical tensions with the PKK and Kurds in general.

How big of a problem is that, really?