Some thoughts about Azerbaijan...

July 25, 2008. My plane has recently landed in Riga airport from Baku. Two weeks long journey is over and I am trying to collect my written notes and organize my impressions, thoughts about the time I spent in Azerbaijan, people I met, stories I heard. I beg your pardon in advance if you find some of my notes critical or not objective as you understand them. But these are the notes of one Latvian idealist.

The first thing which flashed into my mind when I got off the plane in Riga airport was about fresh air. “Wow, amazingly fresh air! I can breath!” – I told myself that time, thinking later that the air in the airport might be one of the most polluted in Riga, but it is even more polluted in Baku and Apsheron peninsula at large, where polluted air, dust, car emissions and hot weather during summer days create an environment difficult to endure for a person who did not get used to such conditions. Numerous reports on the world’s dirties cities found on the internet name Sumqayit – city close to Baku – as the one of the most polluted areas on the Earth, but some locals told me that it might happen that soon Baku will replace Sumqayit on the list, as most of the Soviet-era old chemical plants are closed or functioning at low capacity.

Lifting crane has already become a visible symbol of Baku. Construction works are everywhere, which symbolizes the economical boom country experience these days as oil and gas money fills the pockets of the government and better off citizens. Although it seems to me that a proper city development strategy plan has not yet been agreed on and discussed with the public. Usually public is just informed, not consulted. Only few people I met told me that they really like the city where do they live. Maybe this is just a minor fact to mention, but it reveals us a lot about the relations between authorities and society at large, but I will get back to this discussion later.

Let me describe my last day in Baku, when I decided to attend a workshop of my Finnish friend for the IDP children, living in a separate zone in one of the districts of Baku. It was terribly hot that day. The workshop started at 1 pm, but it seemed that children were waiting for it to start long before as the cheerful crowd of children age 7-12 greeted us in front of the building. We got the key and entered a tiny room with a small window, three tables, several chairs and a flipchart. In a few minutes one more volunteer from France and a local girl-interpreter showed up. The theme of the day was volunteerism and volunteer work.

Children were asked to share their views on numerous topics related to volunteerism, also being engaged in some interactive games. And I was really amazed by the patience of children, who had to spend several hours in a tiny stuffy room. They were noisy as usually children are, but some of their thoughts gave me a lot of food for thoughts.

Once they were asked to share their views on what they like and dislike in Azerbaijan. Music, national instruments, food, historical monuments, Baku old town and many other things were mentioned as the things children like most of all. Poor living conditions (housing), littering, pollution were mentioned as the most negative things about Azerbaijan. “How can you solve these problems?” my Finnish friend asked a boy. “We can write a joint appeal to the President, and he will definitely help us,” the boy answered. His view was shared by others. Asking, how can we solve the problem of littering by our means, most of the children replied that their parents litter, throw plastic bottles outside, thus showing an example for them.

We took a small break for cookies and a glass of water. My friend and I went out to breathe some fresh air, discussing what has been said by the children. Somehow I could not understand why people living in such bad conditions all the time complain, hope for the president and do nothing to change their environment, making it even worse. I heard about it from old people, but was amazed to hear the same from children. Why not to take your own initiative, clear the courtyard and paint entrances of the houses with the help of children thus making your own environment more friendly and creative? Is it just because of the mentality to fully rely on the authorities or apathy to do something? One can point that this is the job of the local authorities and people should demand more, especially if you live in oil rich country, but petro dollars or manats do not reach ordinary people. Moreover, most of the people still have this Soviet mentality of the authorities as not just civil servants or politicians who are elected to serve the people and their needs, but powerful people who are empowered to rule over them. But as regards ecological situation in the country, I think ecological problems will pursue Azerbaijan in the future and the situation might get even worse, one argument for that – children are shown an example that littering is not a bad thing and not taught to cherish the nature and environment where do they live.

Azerbaijan can be an example for the region, introducing alternative sources of energy – wind and solar – and not basing their economy only on oil and gas as the basic source of energy. Baku is known as the city of wind, but sun is shining most of the time, especially during spring, summer and fall. But you will never see a windmill or solar batteries on the roof of a house in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has a huge potential to be a leader in this sphere, producing not only oil and gas vital for the European economy, but also clean energy and equipment to get this energy. Some people with whom I had a chance to talk see the future of Azerbaijan in the development of IT sphere, so the country can produce leading IT specialist and even can compete with India for the outsourcing of the Western business. How long it will take to Azerbaijan to transform and educate its society? I was told that it might be a strategy for 2025, while, for example, rivalry Armenia has already begun to position itself as a land of outsourcing – IT, accounting etc. Some colleagues of mine during our discussion on this topic pointed that the future of Azerbaijan might be the development and focusing more on nanotechnology. It might be so, but this means more investment in education and applied sciences. Investments are vitally needed also into the infrastructure, especially roads. It took us 5,5 hours to drive 160 km from Baku to the city of Quba located in the Northern part of the country. The main road was in a terrible condition.

However, in order to make Azerbaijan a prosperous country reforms are crucially needed – less bureaucracy, one window policy for local business and foreign investors, establishment of the independent anti-corruption bureau etc. But it is impossible to do this without the will of the elite, which is now so enriched and consist only from better off people, who live in a completely different world full of luxury. And it is not surprisingly that children of this elite class of citizens, who gained their fortune, are vivid supporters of the policy of Heydar Aliyev and his son and successor Ilham Aliyev. They might be just 22, having already a cool car, expensive clothes and prestigious job, because they have rich parents with so needed and crucial network of friends and relatives, who hold good positions in the government or state controlled institutions. And these people are diplomats and high-ranking officials in the foreseeable future. I cannot argue that this is a common trend, but this is an impression I got after my two visits to this country.

“We do not need your democracy!”, “Do not teach us how to live!”, “If not Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan could not have been an independent country! All what we have achieved is thanks to him!”, “We have already seen your style of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan!” – these are the words taken from my discussion with young fortunate Azerbaijanis working for state institutions and studying in prestigious universities.

Absence of the rule of law, endemic corruption, cronyism, wealth gap, lack of transparency, widespread poverty – these are the things young Azerbaijanis living in the IDP neighbourhood of Baku wrote in their papers, describing what do they dislike in Azerbaijan. The section “what I like” was empty or full of question marks. This is the case I was told by my friend, who conducted several workshops for different age IDPs from Nagrno-Karabakh. These young men have no money and have no hope for the better future, because the style of governance does not benefit them. Some of these young people join various democratic youth movements, but some are searching for the opportunity to go to Europe or the USA with the aim to stay there, citing that they can help their country more while living abroad.

Here I might be accused of having too critical approach, not mentioning positive sides of the work of the government, but I just reflect an impression of a Latvian idealist. I really cannot understand the meaning of the Day of National Salvation (June 15), when Heydar Aliyev came to power once again in 1993, celebrations of the 39th anniversary when Heydar Aliyev came to power in 1969 on July 14, oil rich country with hospitals in Baku and regions resembling mad houses from horror movies. Maybe the answer is that I have been socialized in a completely different way – to think critically, be active and responsible citizen, to have a debate within the society, to ask maximum and strive for it – and I have completely different values in my life.

Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, whom I met during my trip, had started and finished their speeches, praising the current leadership of the country, but why do I see so many negative sides? I do not claim that Latvia is perfect in everything – democratic establishment of the country, governance style, economic situation, but I see this debate, openness of the governance system, check & balances. What I see in Azerbaijan is a cult of personality, where people have no freedom to choose, but just to respect and obey.


PS: On July 11, it took us 4 hours to get from Qobustan to Baki (around 40 km) or maybe even more as were were stuck in the worst traffic jam I have ever experienced. The reason: opening of the mosque down on the route, where president I. Aliyev took part. There were no announcement before that day that the road will be closed for a certain period of time. Moreover, there were just 2-3 cars of the traffic police, trying to manage the flow of cars, but unsuccessfully. As a result we had to get off and continue our roure by foot.