Join Rutland columnist Allan Grey on a whistlestop tour of complex countries

I am sure you have been waiting with baited breath to know if I found a ham sandwich in Azerbaijan, writes Rutland columnist Allan Grey.

Well, I can confirm no ham or bacon cobs were discovered, but Georgia and Armenia were not so culturally averse with their choice of sandwich fillings, the proof of which could be seen from a number of pigs’ heads smiling coyly at us in a Georgian food market, very similar to our own Saturday farmer’s market in Oakham’s Gaol Street. Well, except for the smiley faced pigs’ heads, that is.

Yes, I’m back from my first solo trip - the sort of trip the Lovely Lady and I took for more than 20 years, travelling far and wide to absorb different cultures and history. There is no doubt the history of these three southern Caucasus countries, sandwiched geographically between the eastern end of the Black Sea and the western side of the Caspian Sea - and politically between Turkey, Russia and Iran - is complex and fractious in the extreme.

I was one of four solos in a group of 18: seven couples, three single ladies and yours truly. We were all extremely well travelled, highly intelligent and, unusually, all bonded very happily for the two weeks we spent together.

First stop was Azerbaijan, mega wealthy from oil and gas extracted from beneath the Caspian Sea, and an important supplier of gas to Europe following EU sanctions on Russia. More recently however, in order to maintain that supply to the EU, Azerbaijan has needed to import gas from Russia, thus undermining those aforementioned sanctions. Culturally, Azerbaijan is one of the more secular Muslim countries, and more liberal in its treatment of women than neighbouring Iran. We observed women wearing western clothing and many unaccompanied in and around the capital Baku.

All three countries were Soviet republics until the fall of the USSR in 1989 but territorial and ethnic tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia still exist to this day over the region of Nagorno Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan. There have been five wars waged between the two countries since 1918, the most recent in August last year, the latest attempt by Azerbaijan to ethnically cleanse the enclave of Armenians. Vladimir Putin visited Baku just before we arrived for talks with the Azeri president Ilham Aliyev, purportedly to offer mediation between the two countries, but most likely to flog some more of his gas.

Currently the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against all travel to Nagorno Karabakh, plus most of the borders between all three countries. Our route back to Tbilisi airport in Georgia from Armenia for the flight home necessarily took us across one of these FCO ‘red’ areas, where the borders of all three countries coincide, with one of the more attentive members of our group noting at one point in the journey that for the next 20 to 30 minutes our travel insurance would be null and void. Fortunately on this day all was peaceful and we returned into Georgia safely, but a military presence was noted as we sped through stunningly beautiful mountainous terrain.

There have been 28 climate change conferences so far, namely COPs 1 to 28. Guess where COP29 is to be held in November this year? Yep, right first time, in Baku, capital of the major oil and gas producer that is Azerbaijan, and just two months after the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix, also in Baku. With breathtaking hypocrisy, President Aliyev has claimed COP29 as the ‘COP of peace’.

Unlike Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia are both Christian countries, Armenia notably the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as the state religion in around 300 AD and naturally our tour consisted of visits to many ancient churches and monasteries.

As the birth country of Joseph Stalin, and until 1989 a Soviet republic, Georgia now sees its future very much as part of Europe. In January 2021, Georgia was preparing to apply for EU membership in 2024. However, as early as March 2022 they submitted their membership application ahead of schedule following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in December 2023 the EU officially granted ‘candidate’ status to Georgia, optimistic proof of which can be seen by the many EU flags already flying in capital Tbilisi.

Georgia is also a major producer of wine, with vineyards large and small as far as the eye can see across miles and miles of the countryside we travelled through. They produce many very tasty reds, which unsurprisingly were repeatedly sampled. Whilst Georgia boasts its wine, Armenia boasts its Ararat brandy, which was also appropriately gustated.

History has never been plain sailing for Armenia as we learnt during one haunting visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex, Armenia's official memorial dedicated to the victims of the genocide, built in 1967 on a hillside outside the capital Yerevan.

The Armenian genocide was the systematic elimination of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. It was implemented by the Ottoman authorities primarily through the mass murder of 1.5 million Armenians, over 50% of the population, during death marches into the Syrian desert along with the forced Islamisation of others, especially women and children.

My trip was just a whistle stop tour of three fascinating and complex countries, and this column sadly can nowhere near do them justice, each really deserving something a little more substantial, maybe I should write a book.