There's a little more unfinished business from my time in the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan. I never felt comfortable writing about these topics while living there and have been hesitant to even do so now that I'm back in the USA. Since AZ claims to have freedom of the press, it may seem overly cautious to self-censor, but when the Baku Women's Club city directory was held up by the Azeri government because it contained a section on the government's censorship (the irony was not lost on us), I thought it was wise to keep the following thoughts to myself, or at least to discuss them only in close company.
By all standards, it was a typical Saturday afternoon, on our way to Citimart, via our driver Hikmet. It seems absurd to even try and explain just how safe of a driver Hikmet was. He sometimes drove too slowly and would always let pedestrians have the right of way, even if it meant that we were nearly rear-ended by a Lada. In the midst of all the craziness of Baku traffic, Hikmet was singled out for a traffic violation. Who knows what the infraction was, if there even was one. Nonetheless, Hikmet had to a pay a bribe to the officer to let us go. The whole ordeal lasted only a few minutes, but as we drove away, Hikmet was indifferent, "that's just the way it is" but I was outraged. The Baku police drove BMW cruisers and made a nice living off of threatening the public. No one was immune, expats were just as likely to be taken advantage of as their fellow Azeris, who were poor by all standards.
I remember reading an article by the CNN journalist Anderson Cooper. Among the discussion points regarding his international assignments was how in most countries of the world, the police are not your friends. Never a truer statement has been made. Our run-in with the police was minor compared to what other expats had experienced. The stories were countless and some were slightly terrifying*.
And the corrupt police were just the beginning of an entirely inefficient government. The money coming into Azerbaijan from oil exports must be incredible, but besides the numerous parks being constructed around Baku, no one would ever know that AZ is a top exporter of oil worldwide. The public schools are lousy, groceries cost an arm and leg, medical care is dismal - all in all, it's a tough place to eek out a decent life.
So, it wasn't really surprising that during the previous months' "Arab Spring" movement, that Baku had it's fair share of protests as well. Expats were warned by their embassies to avoid certain areas of town, as to not inadvertently get swept up in a protest, or worse yet, the squashing of the protests by the police. I hope for the country's sake that the government takes heed to those brave folks trying to air their grievances because it's a long list of wrongs that could be made right.
*I would like to state for the record (or for my mom, whichever), that while living in Almaty and Baku, we never felt threatened for our lives. Both cities were generally hospitable and extremely safe, as guns are a rarity, even for the police. Crime can happen in any city anywhere in the world and we never worried for our well-being.
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