At protest in Baku, Azerbaijani villagers state land problems

In Azerbaijan, at a protest held in front of the presidential administration building in Baku, residents of the village of Khoshbulag, Dashkesan District, have complained that the arable land and pastures of their village had been illegally transferred to other people for use.

The villagers blamed the head of the Dashkesan district executive power of their problems, the "Turan" News Agency reported on May 24.

"The rural community turned out to be helpless. We bought pipes for our own money, since all the pipes had been sold. There is no gas and water supplies, and no asphalted road in the village. Our arable lands and our pastures had been transferred to rich people for money. Villagers have no other occupation than raising cattle and sheep. Since our arable lands had been sold out, we can't use them. How can we live? We've come to get an answer from the presidential administration to this question," said Rena Bagirova, a villager.

Akhad Abiev, the head of the executive power of the Dashkesan District called the participants during the protest action, said one of the villagers. He asked the villagers to stop their protest and promised that all their demands would be fulfilled. However, according to one of the villagers, he has been promising them the same for 10 years already, but fails to fulfil the villagers' demands.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 25, 2021 at 08:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.