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World Jewish News
Fate of Central Synagogue of Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan Still Unclear
21.05.2009
The demolition of houses in the historic Jewish quarter of Baku, where the continuation of the Heydar Aliyev boulevard is going to be built, which continued after the conclusion of the March visit to Azerbaijan by the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov, has once again been suspended.
The dismantling of residential buildings in the historic Jewish quarter of Baku, including the Central Synagogue of Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan, has been suspended due to the fact that the executive authorities of the capital lack
funds to pay the compensations to the owners of the private buildings to be demolished.
However, as the Jewish News Agency was told in the administration of the religious community of Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan, the Jewish Diaspora is still concerned about the fate of one of the oldest synagogues in the country, a few dozen meters from which there have already appeared the land plots, cleaned out of buildings.
"The presidential administration of Azerbaijan assured us that 'everything will be fine with the synagogue.' While we certainly would like to know exactly in what area of Baku a plot will be allocated for the construction of the new synagogue, what the size of the compensation payments will be for the loss of the historic house of worship of the community," the community leaders noted to the JNA with some concern.
With regard to the ordinary members of the community, whose homes have already been torn down, their civil rights have so far been observed.
"Two Jewish families appealed to the community for help in obtaining adequate compensations for their houses, which are being demolished.
We addressed this issue to the Baku Municipality, and members of our community received instead of the lost homes, one-room apartments, comfortable two-room apartments in a good residential areas," noted the leaders of Mountain Jews community to the JNA.
Several other Jewish families have been able to solve the problem of obtaining compensation for their dismantled homes through a direct dialogue with the mayor's office, and thus so far the process of the demolition of the historic Jewish quarter of Baku has not been marked by any apparent excesses, as the JNA was told in the administration of the Mountain Jews community.
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