VZCZCXRO0392
RR RUEHCD RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHSR
DE RUEHKB #0359/01 0660905
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070905Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9801
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000359 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PREL ECON ELAB SOCI AJ
SUBJECT: A SNAPSHOT OF POVERTY IN BAKU 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Nasib Nassibli, an opposition MP and former 
Fulbright scholar, took PolOff on a tour of his constituency 
which includes some of Baku's poorest families.  The squalor in 
which his constituents live often goes unnoticed as more 
attention often goes to IDPs, refugees, and orphans.  However, 
these constituents, mostly day laborers who earn USD 2 per day, 
have retained their pride and are eager to find ways to make 
their government listen to them and help them.  What they need is 
a strong advocate for their concerns, which they seem to have 
gotten by voting for Nassibli.  While some residents told 
Nassibli how angry they were when it appeared he would boycott 
his seat, many welcomed his proposals to form neighborhood 
associations and to have him serve as their advocate before the 
Parliament.  Nassibli has a large mandate to fulfill, but may be 
able to create the first wave of a more representative 
Parliament.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Nasib Nassibli, former two-time Fulbright scholar, 
opposition Musavat member, and first-time MP, offered PolOff a 
guided tour of parts of his Baku constituency.  Nassibli's 38,000 
constituents are among the poorest in Baku, on a level that 
likely approaches that of IDPs and refugees.  Approximately 8,000 
of his constituents live in dormitories they inhabited at the 
fall of the Soviet Union and have remained in ever since.  They 
represent a largely forgotten population, as humanitarian 
assistance programs focused on the IDP and refugee community and 
Baku's elite profited from Azerbaijan's explosive, energy-driven 
GDP growth.  While the average Azerbaijani salary of USD 125 per 
month may seem hard to believe in the midst of Baku's traffic 
jams of Mercedes and luxury SUVs, Nassibli's poorest constituents 
could only hope to the average salary of USD 125 per month. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Many of the residents PolOff met work in the "slave 
markets," day labor markets where jobless gather to compete for 
jobs carrying concrete construction blocks or do other menial 
labor for a "shirvan" (USD 2) a day.  (Ironically, the day labor 
they provide is often for the luxury high-rise apartmens being 
constructed meters away from their dormitories.)  Of the 100 or 
so residents PolOff met, few could say either they or their 
neighbors had permanent employment.  The few women who did have 
permanent employment were teachers, most of whom probably only 
earn around USD 30 per month.  While we met some men during our 
mid-afternoon trip, those at home were mostly women and children, 
some left behind as their husbands went off to seek work in 
Russia. 
 
COMMUNAL SQUALOR 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) During Nassibli's tour, PolOff visited three dormitories 
in two different areas of the constituency, every building as bad 
as the one before.  Families live in rooms about the size of US 
college dormitory rooms, or about 10 feet by 15 feet, with no 
built-in closet, kitchen, sink, or bathroom to call their own. 
Apparently city regulations forbid residents from adding on to 
their living spaces by building enclosed balconies.  The few 
rooms we saw had a bed in one corner, extra bedding in another, 
and perhaps a small wardrobe and desk.  Families of three or 
four, at times up to six lived in these rooms.  All facilities 
are communal and were in a common state of disrepair.  On average 
six or seven families share a kitchen that usually has two gas 
stoves with ovens, a large sink, and a bathtub.  The appliances 
appeared to be the original appliances from the dorms' opening in 
the 1960s and had not been cared for properly.  It did not appear 
that families stored food in the kitchen, likely because the mold 
and rot due to dampness and leaking water pipes would ruin any 
stocks. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Both the sight and the smell of the communal bathrooms 
would be enough to make anyone sick to their stomachs.  There 
were no walls for privacy either for showers (which were rusty 
pipes with ancient shower heads) or for the toilets (two holes in 
the ground cut out of a ceramic overlay, complete with foot 
treads).  While residents were embarrassed to show us their 
living quarters (only three or four actually allowed us in), they 
angrily showed us the bathrooms and kitchens, exclaiming "Look at 
this filth!" 
 
¶6. (SBU) The physical infrastructure of the dormitories was all 
crumbling away from water seepage.  Built of concrete in the 
1960s, the buildings were maintained by the nearby factories in 
which the families worked during the Soviet Union.  However, with 
the privatization of some of the factories but more often their 
closure, no one actually bears responsibility for the maintenance 
of the buildings.  Utilities are supplied by the state companies 
and citizens have applied to the local government official 
(ExCom) for repair work, but to little avail.  Residents 
periodically endure having water only every other day and gas and 
electricity outages for days.  Utility companies can shut off the 
 
BAKU 00000359  002 OF 002 
 
 
electricity to the entire building if only half the residents 
pay, because there is no system to individually bill or 
individually supply utilities.  Stairwells are rickety, basements 
routinely flood, and no one appears to take the initiative to 
clean common areas, such as throwing away cigarette butts on 
landings.  A few feet outside the door of one of the dorms was 
themanhole for the sewer system; the ground around itflooded 
with raw sewage that the residents say they have been trying to 
get addressed for years. 
 
DEMOCRACY NOT LOST ON THE POOR 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) The squalid conditions in which Baku's poor live, some 
for more than 30 years, have certainly taken their toll on the 
community.  Most were frustrated and angry at their lack of 
ability to change their environment and were tired of being 
ignored.  When Nassibli introduced himself as their MP, the 
residents flocked to him and unleashed a litany of grievances. 
Nassibli encouraged residents to collectively advocate for their 
rights to improve their living conditions.  Residents jumped at 
the chance to organize into neighborhood associations and 
welcomed Nassibli's leadership.  One woman visiting a friend was 
visibly frustrated when she discovered her building was not in 
Nassibli's constituency and that she would not be able to partake 
in the meetings.  Nonetheless, Nassibli offered to deliver a 
letter from her to her MP. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Most of the residents grew up under the Soviet system 
and while most had little sense of empowerment, they understood 
the role their local government should take and that local 
government could be spurred to action.  One building decided to 
block roads a few weeks prior to our visit to protest the 
electricity shortage.  While a representative of the ExCom's 
office came out to address their concerns and promised a 
resolution, the residents claim the office now ignores their 
phone calls to explain that problems still persist. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Clearly, the residents with whom we spoke had a strong 
sense of what democracy should look like in practice.  After 
Nassibli introduced himself, one middle-aged man yelled at him, 
saying how angry he was when he heard Nassibli was considering 
boycotting Parliament.  The man accused him of not being 
accountable to his constituents and said his vote for Nassibli 
would have been wasted.  He went out on a limb to vote for 
Nassibli, why wouldn't his MP do the same for him?  Others around 
him nodded in agreement.  Nassibli (who back in December had said 
he wanted to take his seat but would have to defer to Musavat 
leadership) took the comments in stride and said that he was 
officially their MP now and was here among them to work for them. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Expectations among Baku's poor seemed tempered by 
reality.  None seemed to expect that their country's coming 
wealth would significantly change their lot.  Nassibli did not 
ask his constituents their thoughts on the levels of government 
corruption or their expectations for the oil money.  Instead, he 
focused on means of empowering those to whom he visibly felt a 
responsibility.  It was evident that the main task at hand for 
the residents was to survive and to provide for their families in 
whatever way they could, without losing their pride.  One mother 
insisted that her children continue attending school, despite the 
fact that other children teased and tormented the boy about being 
a "dorm kid." 
 
TOWARDS A MORE REPRESENTATIVE PARLIAMENT? 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Baku's poor, the class of citizens that drives the 
average monthly salary down to USD 125 a month, is often 
forgotten in the rush to improve conditions in schools, 
orphanages, and IDP housing.  While rural Azerbaijanis can 
survive off the land, urban dwellers have few choices beyond day 
labor in an economy that is still heavily dominated by the oil 
sector.  Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that this class of 
urban poor is growing.   The test of the new MPs such as Nassibli 
is whether their advocacy and efforts can move the mountains 
necessary to improve conditions for these constituents.  This can 
be accomplished through pushing local government to be more 
accountable, passing legislation to boost the non-oil sector 
economy, and teaching constituents self-empowerment.  While he 
does not appear to have a lot of company in his efforts, MPs such 
as Nassibli may slowly be able to chip away at the old "rubber 
stamp" system.  We are looking to MPs such as Nassibli to produce 
positive civic changes that may at one point turn Parliament into 
a representative body. 
 
HARNISH