Over 300 Baku residents have collected more than 2,000 signatures for a petition to stop demolitions in the capital’s historic Bayirshahar district.
According to the Baku 2040 master plan, signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, an area of 425 hectares in the city has been approved as a special protection zone. Despite these safeguards, many local residents say they have received eviction notices, telling OC Media that the state is attempting to illegally destroy their houses.
To combat these demolitions, some local residents have gathered in a social media group with the aim of collecting 10,000 signatures in order to petition the government to restore their housing.
One of the group’s members, Rafael Gulmammadli, told OC Media that he is an artist and that the demolition was an important issue for him because he loves Baku, despite not being a local resident.
‘I regularly shared posts about [the demolitions] and one day the admin of the group texted me and asked me to join their campaign’.
Gulmammadli stressed that some streets in Bayirshahar should be protected due to their historical and cultural heritage, as was mentioned in the Baku 2040 master plan.
‘These streets were mentioned as a special protection zone. What does a special protection zone mean? That is, not a single long-term demolition should be carried out here. If any building here is damaged, if any building needs repair, it should be repaired, reconstructed, or reinforced. Demolition is impossible even without demolition’, he said.
According to Gulmammadli, the group demanded that Zulfali Ismailov, the head of the department of demolition and construction under the executive authority of the Yasamal district, provide them with a document confirming the demolition of Bayirshahar, but Ismailov was unable to do so.
‘He told me that “I don’t have it, go and contact the Baku City Executive Authority”. I say that you are engaged with this agency. How is it that you are doing this work, demolishing, but you don’t have any documents in your hands?’ , Gulmammadli stressed.
‘You know, the worst thing is that the private individuals who carried out the demolition there did it under the pretext of deceiving people. They come and say: “On behalf of the state, for state needs, we are buying this from you, you cannot raise the price” ’, he added.
Zahida Azizova, a lawyer who has been a resident of Bayirshahar since 1987, lives on Bashir Safaroghlu Street, which is also included in the protective zone. Despite this, her house is also listed as one of the demolished buildings.
‘These persons came to us like perpetrators. They did not present us with any documents, and they could not explain why they demolished our houses and for what state project our houses should be destroyed’, Azizova told OC Media.
Azizova currently acts as the head of the campaign.
‘Every new head of the executive power of Yasamal district argued for the demolitions in our area. Now we have a new executive power, and he also came to our streets and told us that these territories will also be demolished. I asked where the decree about [the demolition is], and after he called us for a meeting’.
Azizova stated they have lived with the stress of possibly losing their homes since 2015.
‘During the time of Ibrahim Mehtiyev, the former head of the local authority, they came and glued special symbols to our doors, noting that this house would be demolished. This is not a joke. In our living area, 147 historical cultural buildings were saved in these streets. And we asked how you can demolish our homes?’, Azizova said.
The group sent the letter of complaint to various state agencies, but received a response claiming that the area they lived in was not on the list of streets to be demolished.
Architect Abdul Huseynov, who is also a member of the initiative group despite not residing in Bayirshahar, highlighted that some historical monuments were removed from the state register, and parts of Bayirshahar were demolished at the same time around ten years ago. According to him, it is impossible to track the process of demolition of historical buildings.
‘We addressed letters to the State Service for the Protection, Development, and Restoration of Cultural Heritage and asked why they did not restore the list of buildings which should be under protection. They stated that no historical buildings were removed. But there was a moment that we were sent a letter and they responded after one month about the protection but at that time the building was demolished’, Huseynov told OC Media.
Huseynov stated that since 2015, there have been several plans related to demolishing parts of the city, including one in 2018 that included some part of the Bayirshahar.
‘According to the general plan, which was approved in 2023, and there was a requirement for special protection, the old decision made in 2018 loses its force, if you think about it logically’.
He stressed that five years have passed since the decision was made in 2018.
‘Now they are starting to implement it, but when has the general plan been approved? Therefore, I think that the general plan in any case has more power than this document’, Huseynov said.
Minakhanim Asadli, who has lived on Alovsat Guliyev Street — located in front of the Taza Pir Mosque — for 25 years, told OC Media that the Baku City Executive Power started to ‘disturb’ them starting in 2014.
‘My home was measured [...], but no one stated how they valued my house. After the master plan, we know that our street is also included in the Protective Zone’.
Aasadli also stressed that no one showed her any documents regarding the reason for the demolition.
‘Many opinions were said to me about the demolition, for the park, for the state, every person says their own opinion. If there is an order about the demolition that will be signed by the president or the Cabinet of Ministers, we will leave our house, because we support the internal and foreign policy of the government’.
However, Asadli also noted that without any explanation, residents were forced to leave or to sell their houses — if they did not, their gas and electricity was cut.
Azizova told OC Media that recently, three unknown men came to her house and knocked on her door. She believes these people planned to attack her.
‘I did not know these people, and I think someone sent them to frighten me, because they couldn’t silence me. I’m the head of the initiative group, and I spoke everywhere about our problems. I went to the police station, but they did not do anything, despite the fact I’m openly saying that I live in a criminal country and worry for my life’, Azizova told OC Media.
OC Media contacted Ismailov about the ongoing demolition of houses in the protected area. He said that residents should come to the commission and then hung up the phone.
Aytan Farhadova
