Azerbaijan the land of fake and stuffing

If there is one thing Ilham Aliyev's cabinet is really good at its stuffing and fake [there are many other things its good at as well but I will stick to these two this time for the sake of the argument]. I know, sounds strange and unrelated but if you bear with me you will get the point shortly. 

So those familiar with Azerbaijan's cuisine, are probably also familiar with a dish called "dolma". It's a dish popular in the whole geographical region - Greeks have it, Turks have it, Armenians have it - stuffed vegetables/grape or cabbage leaves with a variety of stuffing. But thats not the topic of this post. 

We like stuffing in general. In fact we have many other delicious dishes which include stuffing too. Our government likes stuffing too. But on a whole other level. If you haven't heard or experienced "political stuffing" then you should come and visit Azerbaijan [if you can that is]. 

We have an excellent record for instance with stuffing ballot boxes - government's obedient slaves stuff ballot boxes with fake votes, generating fake results and therefore staging fake elections. 

The government of Azerbaijan also excelled at stuffing its people's heads - by taking away privileges of good education the Ministry of Education and its obedient staff have been stuffing its pupils with god knows what contributing to fake education [although there are some exceptions of some really smart young Azerbaijani men and women, which unfortunately are the minority]. 

There is one thing that many Azerbaijanis are as good as the government of Azerbaijan itself and that is stuffing pockets - giving bribes, buying favors, and so on. Unfortunately none of it is done with fake money but while the money is real, its sources are questionable. 

We stuff pro-government rallies with people with stuffed heads and faked believes. 

Stuffing is all around and in the air. Its a political skill and the better you are at stuffing, the higher you can get in the government.

More recently however, we have been seeing a different kind of stuffing. You will never guess what it is unless I tell you. Yes dear readers, we can also stuff court rooms with fake attendants who pretend to be fake relatives of real political prisoners (but who don't know the names of their "relatives" of course only because they are super "excited" or "nervous"). This was the case during the most recent hearing of rights activist Leyla Yunus. According to local reporters while it was extremely difficult for journalists, diplomats and acquaintances to attend the trial, this wasn't the case for a group of "court employees" who entered the court room from a different door, without any scrutiny and carrying their mobile phones. 

I bet, if there was a category in recently held European Games in Azerbaijan which involved stuffing, Azerbaijan would have gained another gold medal for sure. 

I expect many more stuffed hearings...

"What to see in Baku" or how- to-video- guide to using an audio guide

So I came across this video- from the series of new promo videos prepared ahead of the Eurovision song contest- apparently intended for showing beauties, monuments, architecture (or whatever is left of it) of the Old City, also known as "Icheri Sheher" (or Inner City). But to me it felt like this video is more about how to use the audio guide than the place itself. True there is footage of several spots in the Old City as well as mentioning of a restaurant but nothing more. And please, someone could have written a better script in English for this woman and also practice it with her- it felt like she was reading it for the first time.

The hidden truth

When I left Baku last time, I left it literally covered in dust (and I mean something more close to a thick glaze of dust) from numerous, ongoing construction and renovation work all around the city (or more so in the main downtown area of the capital). And so during my most recent visit, the city took me by surprise. The dust settled and what was a construction and renovation site only few months ago, was now replaced with pretty alleys, new parks, polished buildings cleaned from years of accumulated dirt (unfortunately that was also inhaled by half of the Baku population while it was done).

And for a very brief moment, I thought to myself that its not all that bad. It looked clean, spacious, beautiful. But just like that I was snapped back into the reality- the hidden truth underneath those pretty looking streets, parks, buildings took over the feeling of brief satisfactory happiness...

Recently, I was approached by a young man from Azerbaijan at one of the conferences I was attending and asked what is the reason for me talking of Azerbaijan the way I usually do. Well, I hope you read this post dear F. (didn't feel disclosing your full name as I thought it might not be appropriate) because this is precisely why I speak of Azerbaijan the way I do. Because good life isn't just about pretty streets, renovated buildings (which I consider good initiative just not as important like say improving the situation with freedom of expression, human rights, and what not), uber expensive boutique shops and 5 star hotels built across the city.

I speak of Azerbaijan this way, because I would very much like to see that moment I shortly was overtaken by, exist for real. I want this country to be fair and just to its people. Its economy be transparent and distributed fairly (rather than used by certain individuals for their personal purposes or stacked away in some foreign banks or simply not accessible to the country en masse). Because I simply want truth and no more hidden reality. 

It might work perfectly for visitors who come to visit Azerbaijan (though that might not be the case anymore, give the recent visa changes) but not for its people. We all know that renovated facades look great (especially at night) but the actual life underneath those facades continues to rotten and fade away. Azerbaijan might have a lot of money and prosper day by day (based on numerous speeches of government officials) but the corruption, lies, distrust and degrading overall approach to the people and general welfare, is only a sign of a spoiled behavior, and definitely not something we should be proud of and pretend as if everything is just absolutely great...