Talk:Derbent

Stay safe?

A series of great edits were made to this article, but deleting all warnings on safety wouldn't seem to be in the interest of travellers. Even if no special warningbox is needed, surely there should be something in a "Stay safe" section? Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:03, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

It strikes me as strange that it now just flat-out says "travel to Dagestan is not safe", while in the Dagestan article, it says this:

"The [anti-terrorism] strategy has been successful, and terrorist attacks have become a rare event in Dagestan since 2015. If/when they do take place, they are mostly aimed at government officials or police stations in the capital, and never target tourists or ordinary civilians. After the demise of ISIS, the Federal government has systematically repatriated surviving fighters and convicted them of terrorism activities which carry long prison sentences in the Russian Federation. The strategy was successful to keep radical extremists off the streets, and in combination with a change of leadership in Chechnya, has allowed peace to return to Dagestan since 2016-2017.

With that in mind, most of Dagestan is now a safe travel destination for foreign tourists. All of the major cities, including the entire Caspian Sea coastline (Makhachkala, Izberbash, Derbent, Kaspiysk) are very safe for travel. The situation is more nuanced in the mountainous regions where the terrain makes effective law enforcement difficult. The inaccessible mountains are an ideal hiding place for terrorist cells. Nonetheless there have been no reported terrorist attacks for many years. The Dagestani people are already culturally diverse, and are curious about tourists with foreign cultures visiting their country. They also understand the economic opportunities offered by tourism."

Like it literally says in there that travelling to Derbent is "very safe". It seems like terrorism is only still a problem in the remote parts of the mountains, and not something the average traveller will likely have to worry about, so a categoric "don't go, it's not safe" seems outdated and incorrect now. Is this correct? Do others agree? 2A00:23C5:BB0F:3C00:F5D9:C37:C802:269A 03:18, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

Two things: If there are still travel advisories that either specifically single out Derbent or apply to the whole republic, we need to include those but can also state the specific points you're mentioning. Also, are you ArticCynda? Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:32, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

I think for sure, the advisory warnings should 100% be included and can't be left out, but yeah, I think a more nuanced description of the situation is really needed. Also no, that's not me lol 86.132.86.34 13:39, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

So I'd say, go ahead and edit as warranted if you have current information. Ikan Kekek (talk) 18:25, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

5000 years?

The intro says that Derbent is a 5,000-year-old city. However, History says "with a history dating back to the 8th century BCE" and Wikipedia says something similar. 800+2,000 ≠ 5,000. So is the claim of 5,000 taken out of thin air? Otherwise there should be some justification for the claim in History (regardless of whether it was a "city" at that time). –LPfi (talk) 13:57, 3 March 2021 (UTC)