Villages in Azerbaijan can seem introverted places to outsiders. But there is a place where people’s everyday hopes and fears are arranged in plain sight, usually in the form of a ribbon or a piece of colorful cloth tied to a tree.
A simple pir in Qax, typical of hundreds of these sites throughout the countryside.
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“Broken stones, inlaid stones, stones in riverbeds, stone in hand, tombstones, stones with drying dung, holy stones , stones to grind, to heat, to cool, to roll down the mountain and wait a hundred years for a shepherd to put salt on top of it, stone on stone, for sheep to eat”…
…I wrote while waiting for thousands of sheep to come down from the mountain to drink. I wait for them in the valley on the other side of the stream because of the sheep dogs that accompany them. I have asked everyone I could for advice about how to get past the sheep dogs to meet the shepherd, but no one filled me with confidence – these are pretty vicious dogs bred to fight wolfs in the mountains, so it’s a valid concern.
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Had another story go up on EurasiaNet.org, so here’s a few photos that didn’t make the cut there.
Azerbaijan has always been located between cultural traditions, absorbing words and ideas from the vast empires that have surrounded it. So it is fitting that the only thing everyone agrees about today’s meykhana – a form of poetic improvisation – is that it is a unique product of the Absheron peninsula where Baku is located.
Some say it originated with from Sufi dervish traditions, while others see its origin in more secular literary forms. Even the word meykhana, which can be literally translated as “the place of wine,” – although “spirits” captures the meaning more closely – yields many interpretations, from heavenly nectars to back alley taverns.
When Azerbaijan won Eurovision I was drinking with a Meskhetian Turk somewhere in the flatlands of Central Azerbaijan. I had gone to see the night livestock market, which isn’t exactly at night nor a market. But the point remains, instead of covering the biggest story of the year about Azerbaijan in the Western press, I was feeling sorry for sheep on a roadside in Sabirabad. Figures…
Even the sheep were thrilled!
On May 10 Heydar Aliyev, the former president and current billboard favorite in Azerbaijan, would have turned 88 years old. So naturally, the government pulled out all the stops. Like last year, thousands of flowers from 50 countries literally covered the park between the Heydar Aliyev Palace and the statue of Heydar Aliyev as two hot air balloons were inflated in front of the giant flower mosaic of Heydar Aliyev, ensuring that his unmistakable Kremlin-Mona-Lisa smile would soar above the city already covered by his portraits. Continue reading
The first story I wrote and photographed for EurasiaNet.org was just published. It only ran with three photos, so here are a few additional ones:
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Should you decide to take in the more-tourist friendly, less rusted-tanks sights of Azerbaijan, here’s the next thing I found heading southwest from Baku.
First the Gobustan petroglyphs, which the guide said are from 23,000 years ago. Yes, thousand. The internet says, 12-8th century BC, but honestly who even knows? There’s a couple hundred of these and they really cool in real life. Apparently, they put tooth paste inside the crevaces to make more contrast in the photos. I didn’t even try to do that – they already demand a 2 AZN fee for taking photos. But here’s a pretty holy site from long before there was an Azerbaijan, an Armenia, a Georgia, a Russia, a Persia – before any of that. Plus, look at that cool boat they made:
That’s the question facing anyone covering today’s protests in Baku. Is the opposition too weak or is the ruling YAP party too strong?
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Continue readingHeading southwest out of Baku you can expect a few sights worth noting, but the good stuff is hidden behind the walls of Azerbaijan Methane Company. There are other stops worth pointing out on the road to Gobustan, but my favorite was the tank cemetery we found on the way to Lenin’s giant head.
There’s the tranquil Bibi Heybat Mosque, The famous “James Bond” oil fields where they filmed The World is Not Enough, a few beaches, and some overpriced resorts in various stages of construction. Otherwise there is a mostly a big wall on the right and the Caspian shore on the left. There’s a hole in that wall that leaves to a barren world of pipes, more walls and petro-chemical plants across the horizon.
