Welcome to Shanghai. Not in China, but a small neighbourhood in Baku, Azerbaijan that is built right on top of freight railroad tracks.
Most of the people who live here are refugees displaced as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. This territory, inhabited by mostly Armenians, decided it wanted to be free of Azerbaijan and unite with Armenia. The ensuing war over the region led to many deaths and many more displaced. The Azeris in Nagorno-Karabakh fled to Azerbaijan, and the Armenians in Azerbaijan fled to Armenia.
As a result, there are now about one million refugees and/or displaced persons living in Azerbaijan. Many of those (about 175,000) wound up in Baku. And the ones with the least means wound up in neighbourhoods like Shanghai.
And here the residents built their own houses out of tin, brick, wood and myriad materials held together by scrap metal, tangled wires and propped up with rusty pipes. This makeshift construction means practically all of the buildings were built illegally without zoning permissions and safety inspections.
Throughout the day, trains carrying heavy cargo and chemicals dictate when residents can do the most basic things outdoors that many take for granted. Every 20 minutes, the screech of old wheels grinding on rusted tracks scatter chickens, children and cats. Chaos and calm are kept to a strict timetable where the gauntlet of shacks hugging the tracks breathe people in and out to the rhythm of the rails.
Considering just how close these trains get to the houses…
…accidents have been unavoidable. People, mostly children, have been killed or maimed over the years.
Yousif’s brother lost a leg whilst playing too close to the tracks.
Social services and public spending are almost non-existent here.
But just outside Shanghai, heavy investment is occurring.
The luxury SOCAR office tower, the tallest building in the Caucasus, rises above Shanghai.
Despite the peculiarity of the people’s predicament, they do their best to live a normal life. And they alone have built a strong-knit community with most of the trappings of an ordinary neighbourhood.
Thanks to increased gas and oil exploitation, Azerbaijan is becoming wealthy…very quickly. Since entering into an energy development deal in 1994 with a group of major oil companies, and a new pipeline started operating in 2006, the government has raked in billions of extra revenue each year. As a result, GDP increased from $3.3bn to $75.2bn in only twenty years.
Much of this wealth is concentrated in Baku, especially . But whilst this money is lavished on , and events like the European Games, refugees and their descendants still live in limbo. So, is the government just turning a blind eye? Not completely. The USSR collapsed just when the refugee crisis struck, and the newly formed Republic of Azerbaijan’s economy was at its worst. The new country absorbed almost a million displaced persons. To put that in perspective, one out of eight people living in Azerbaijan today are refugees.
The government has moved many into old university dorms, constructed villages of residential apartment blocks and has plans to build homes for 400,000 more people living in conditions like in Shanghai. But when? Those I spoke to were sceptical, as they’ve heard these promises for a long time.
Oil money has lifted many boats in Baku, but the wealth continues to roll straight through Shanghai
Nizami Street
The Flame Towers
Philharmonic Fountain Park