National Public Radio (NPR)
SHOW: Day to Day 4:00 AM EST NPR
October 5, 2005 Wednesday

Taking time out from war for shopping

ANCHORS: MADELEINE BRAND

REPORTERS: LAWRENCE SHEETS

MADELEINE BRAND, host:

This is DAY TO DAY. I’m Madeleine Brand.

For almost 15 years, the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and
Armenia have been at war. Thirty thousand people have died and a
million more are refugees. But even though at war, some unofficial
trade between the two countries thrives. NPR’s Lawrence Sheets
reports from the Georgian border village of Sodoklo(ph).

LAWRENCE SHEETS reporting:

Not far from here begins a front line that extends for hundreds of
miles. Azerbaijani and Armenian soldiers exchange gunfire over
trenches on a regular basis, despite a formal truce.

(Soundbite of people speaking in foreign language)

SHEETS: But here, things are different. This jam-packed muddy bazaar
is just inside Georgia at a wedge of land near where Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Georgia meet. Officially, the border between Azerbaijan
and Armenia is closed. It’s not even possible to make a telephone
call between the two countries. But at this chaotic market of
makeshift wooden stalls, the countries are still connected. Most of
the buyers here are from Armenia. The sellers are usually ethnic
Azerbaijanis, like Elchean Mogamettiv(ph). He sells tools, like
pliers and screwdrivers, to Armenians here.

(Soundbite of voices)

Mr. ELCHEAN MOGAMETTIV (Seller): (Through Translator) Some people
don’t like trading with someone they are at war with. But what can
you do? You have to put bread on the table.

SHEETS: Mogamettiv says relations between the ethnic Azerbaijanis and
Armenians here are fine, despite the hostility between the two
countries. He shakes hands with one of his longtime customers,
Armenian Arshallis Merchanyan(ph). Merchanyan buys goods wholesale
here every week. He then takes them back to Armenia’s capital,
Yerevan, where he deals them to retailers.

Mr. ARSHALLIS MERCHANYAN (Buyer): (Through Translator) People bring
all sorts of stuff–clothing, tea, everything you can possibly
imagine. Everything is cheaper here than in Armenia.

SHEETS: Here in this Georgian border village, you can find Armenian
brandy generally unavailable in Azerbaijan, or Azerbaijani tea, still
coveted in Armenia. Middlemen here can also arrange deliveries of
small amounts of smuggled Azerbaijani gasoline. Ethnic Georgian Amar
Sakharalidze(ph) is one of the directors of the outdoor market.
Sakharalidze says the Azerbaijanis tried to crack down, but they gave
up.

Mr. AMAR SAKHARALIDZE (Outdoor Market Director): (Through Translator)
The Azerbaijanis were angry about the trade of oil and stuff like
that, but they got over it. Politics are politics, but what does that
have to do with ordinary people?

SHEETS: Thomas Goltz, an American expert who’s written extensively
about the Caucasus region, says deep poverty in rural Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia has forced potential foes into business.

Mr. THOMAS GOLTZ (Writer): There is enmity on a macro-political
level, but at the same time, the human need and the urge to trade and
just curiosity create some very interesting situations, and this just
happens to be one of them.

(Soundbite of activity at bazaar)

SHEETS: The sellers and buyers here communicate in a mixture of
languages: Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani and Armenian. One trade
stall does a booming business selling Turkish pop music to Armenian
clients.

(Soundbite of music)

Unidentified Singer: (Singing in foreign language)

SHEETS: Anoush Anyan(ph), a 43-year-old woman from Armenia, has been
coming to this market and trading with ethnic Azerbaijanis for 12
years. Today she’s buying cheap plastic flowers brought in from
Azerbaijan. She’ll resell them in Armenia.

Ms. ANOUSH ANYAN (Armenia): (Foreign language spoken)

SHEETS: Anyan says she has lots of Azerbaijani friends here to do
business with, even though her son now serves in the Armenian army,
which Azerbaijan is fighting. She said that because of unofficial
trade like this, there’s now less mistrust of Azerbaijanis in her
native village, regardless of what the politicians think. Lawrence
Sheets, NPR News, in the Georgian village of Sodoklo, near the border
between Azerbaijan and Armenia.