Azeri Youth Unhappy at Nightlife Clampdown

Young people in Ganja, Azerbaijan’s second city, say a de facto ban on nightlife has left them with few ways of spending their free time. 

Almost a third of the city’s 300,000 people are aged between 14 and 29, with many studying at Ganja’s four higher education institutions. The city had a healthy crop of discos and bars until two years ago, when a new police chief was appointed and closed them all down.

“There are no discos, no bars and no night clubs. There are only restaurants which young people don’t go to. Most young people in Ganja are unemployed or on close to the minimum wage, so going to restaurants would be an expensive habit,” Sabina Sadykhova of the Bridge to the Future group said.

Deputy police chief Ilgar Balakishiyev, said closing all the night spots reduced crime rates significantly.

“The closures helped reduce crime in the city. Today, we solve 97 per cent of all crimes, and the public can relax,” he said.

Young people, however, say they cannot relax at all.

“I’ve lived in Ganja for six months,” said Tural Huseynov, a 21-year-old who was born here but has lived in Russia for much of his life. “Even though I’m a native, it’s very hard for me to live here. There is nothing interesting for young people to do – no youth centres, no concerts, no parties. You can’t just study all the time.”

Elvin Bayramov, 24, said, “I’m both studying and working. After a long day, I want to forgot the stress, sit with my friends, and dance. But there is nowhere left in Ganja to spend an evening. Just expensive restaurants, which young people can’t afford to visit.

Non-government groups working with young people say the decision to close bars and clubs was an overreaction, as it has left young people with nothing to do.

Sadykhova said the authorities should provide new youth centres. The existing Youth House, a Soviet-era building that once hosted games clubs and other activities, has fallen into disrepair as various state bodies squabble over its ownership.

Other experts warned that the measure might drive young people into the arms of religious groups in this Muslim majority country.

The non-government Centre for Political and Social Investigations said poorer people, in particular, were increasingly left with no social life outside the mosques.

“Our research shows that in the last two years, there has been a marked increase in interest in religion among young people, particularly towards various kinds of Islam,” the centre’s Aygun Mustafayeva said. “The lack of clubs and other activities gives young people no choices, and they easily fall under the influence of religious missionaries.”

For young people who do not want to go to the mosque, there are tea-houses, where men play backgammon and dominos, or internet cafes.

Tural Aliyev, who runs an internet club in the city centre, said, “Sadly, many families are still ambivalent about the internet, which they see not as a source of information and knowledge, but as a medium for distributing pornography. So they forbid their daughters to go to internet clubs.”

Young women have even fewer opportunities than men. Khayala Ibrahimova, 22, said that even if the city authorities agreed to open youth centres, she and her friends would find it hard to go.

“The society we live in isn’t prepared to accept women into many kinds of activity. Conservative attitudes remain strong,” she said. “Sadly, there are even many young women who think their main duty is to marry as quickly and as profitably as possible.”

The municipal authorities say that they do create facilities for young people, but these tend to go unused.

“We’re fed up with promises,” replied Elchin Suleynamov, a student. “Those plans exist only on paper. You can’t organise activities for young people with just plans and decrees. To implement these plans, you need to have the infrastructure and spend the money that’s needed. That’s precisely what we don’t have.”

Ulvi Telmansoy is a freelance journalist from Ganja.