Baku Oil Families Seek Redress

Heirs of early 20th century Azerbaijani oil barons executed by the Soviet regime are suing the state for confiscated property.

The relatives of long-dead tycoons Zeinalabdin Tagiev, Musa Nagiev and Murtuza Mukhtarov first took the state to court seven years ago, and have since filed 11 lawsuits with different district courts in Azerbaijan, seeking a reversal of the Soviet government’s decision to confiscate their forefathers’ mansions.

“Our great-grandparents were very rich, but we only want a small part of what they owned,” Tagiev’s great-granddaughter Nailia Abdullaeva told IWPR. “We only want the non-residential buildings back. We have no intention to evict anyone, although my great-grandfather’s family was literally thrown out. They wouldn’t even let them take any personal items.”

The turn-of-the-century oil boom in Baku made many common people fabulously rich. At the time, Baku oil wells supplied over 90 per cent of all oil for the Russian Empire. The rest was supplied by Astrakhan and Grozny. Then the new Bolshevik regime stripped the Baku oil tycoons of all their property. Some of them were subsequently sent to the Gulag, others simply shot and killed without trial.

It was not until 1998 that a certain Yusif Abdullayev, an attorney-at-law and descendant of the aristocratic families of the Baku khans, first stood up for his rights to his family heirloom. In his lawsuit, filed with Surakhani District Court, he claimed the Bakikhanov estate in Amirjany, and won. “My cousin now lives there,” said Abdullaev. “The Surakhani court also confirmed my blood relation to Murtuza Mukhtarov, the oil baron.”

Mukhtarov started out as a coach driver. Having saved up some money, he invested it in a budding oil business. In 1919, Mukhtarov’s wealth totalled nine million roubles, a fortune at the time.

Having won the case, Abdullayev began searching for archival evidence of Mukhtarov’s possessions. He learned that his ancestor’s property in Baku alone included 13 estates, two refineries, plenty of land, an arboretum and a lighthouse. In addition, he owned estates and manufacturing facilities in Grozny, Kislovodsk, St Petersburg and Moscow. Abdullayev said properties outside Azerbaijan are the hardest to track down for lack of evidence.

Last year, Abdullayev brought legal action in the Sabail district court, seeking the return of two of his ancestor’s former properties. But he wasn’t as lucky this time. Not only did the district court rule against Abdullayev, the judge went so far as to repeal the previous court ruling.

“The judge said my relation to Mukhtarov had been verified erroneously, and I’m not really his relative,” Abdullayev said. “Mukhtarov himself died before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. His wife and five children died in the Gulag. He does not have an heir. But Mukhtarov had two sisters, Tukezban and Ziniet. As a relation of Tukezban’s, I represent the descendants of Mukhtarov’s sisters.”

One of the buildings claimed by Abdullayev is also one of Baku’s finest architectural gems. The Palace of Happiness is the main wedding venue in central Baku and also houses the Composers Union and other organisations.

“The building is simply going to waste, it’s been decades since it was last repaired,” said a member of the Composers Union who asked not to be named. “This despite the fact that the union makes quite a lot of money subletting its premises. I don’t think the building would be in a such a sorry state of disrepair if it had a private owner.”

The part of the building housing the wedding palace is in better condition. “We haven’t done any major repairs for quite a while, but at least we keep everything clean and in good working order. If something breaks, we have people come and fix it,” said Maya Hasanova, who heads the marriage palace, adding she was against privatising a building that has housed a public institution for decades.

The Sabail court also rejected Nailya Abdullayeva’s claim of blood relation to another oil tycoon, Tagiev. “I’m not just some distant relative; I’m his great-granddaughter,” she told IWPR.

Abdullaeva is claiming three buildings from her great-grandfather’s empire: the History Museum, the Tagiev Factory, and the Baku Department Store or Univermag.

Nailya Velikhanova, head of the History Museum, said she was shocked by the prospect of the building passing into private hands. “It’s expensive to keep up the exhibits, but it will cost even more to move them out. Privatising the museum is a bad idea, although the state is unable to properly keep it up. We have only renovated one floor since renovation started three years ago. We are waiting for a World Bank loan to finish the job. Only a very rich person who is crazy about history should be allowed to privatise historical landmarks,” she said.

Tagiev was the tycoon of them all, possessing an estimated 30 million roubles in assets. He came from a simple background and lost his acquired wealth under the Soviets. Tagiev died in abject poverty in 1924, and all his children met with a similar fate. His youngest daughter, Sara Tagieva, lived and died in poverty in 1993, when her father’s good name had already been restored.

“My great-grandfather gave lavishly to charity; he did a lot for the country and its people, but they weren’t as grateful as you’d think. The time has come to redress that historical injustice,” Abdullayeva said.

Diliara Nagieva is claiming five estates from the government that used to belong to her grandfather Musa Nagiev: the Musa Nagiev Hospital, a book superstore, the office building of the Russian oil giant Lukoil, the officers’ club house and a building at 69 Neftchiliar prospekt. So far, the Sabail and Khatain district courts have roundly rejected her pleas.

Musa Nagiev was a simple workman when he struck oil and made an amazing 10 million roubles in the petroleum business. He did not live to see Azerbaijan overtaken by the Soviets. During interethnic clashes with Armenians in March 1918, the Ismailia Palace, Nagiev’s pride and joy, built and named in honour of his only male child who had died at a very young age, was badly damaged. Nagiev never recovered from the shock, and died a year later, in March 1919.

“His only daughter also died young,” Diliaria Nagieva told IWPR. “Nagiev then adopted his nephew, my father, who was a talented but impoverished theatre actor. The adoption saved him from the communists.”

Having lost their cases in all district courts, the heirs went higher and challenged the rulings in the appeals court, but it reaffirmed the earlier decisions.

The government is fighting this flood of requisition claims. Baku mayor Hajibala Abutalybov told ANS television channel it was a preposterous idea to give government property away to some strangers just because they claim to be descendants of former owners. “These estates they are claiming have belonged to the state for many decades,” said the mayor. “Only the court has the power to decide the fate of these buildings.”

Farzali Aliev, an independent lawyer, said inheritance cases present many challenges. Proving your rightful entitlement, he said, is only half the battle, “First of all, the courts demand historical evidence, or what we call ‘silent witnesses’. This makes things complicated, as the necessary evidence is usually impossible to unearth in the archives. If an heir wins the case, it is his duty to provide housing of equal value to all residents occupying his property.”

In fact many of the heirs could not afford an apartment even for a single family, let alone resettle a whole building.

But the relatives of the oil tycoons say they want to carry on fighting and will take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights. “The descendants of Ashurbekov, Hajievsky, Dadashev and Danilov are watching us,” said Tagiev’s great-granddaughter. “If we win, they, too, will rise to claim their forefathers’ property back.”

Samira Ahmedbeili is a freelance journalist in Baku.