AZE.US
Azerbaijani architect Elchin Aliyev has sharply criticized the current state of the Architects’ Union of Azerbaijan, saying the organization has become, in his words, a symbol of “moral decline” and detachment from the professional community.
In a Facebook post, Aliyev asked whether the building of a public organization could be turned into a “private palace” with security, expensive cars, folding sofas, a luxury alcohol bar, closed offices for a select few and staff ready to serve the wishes of those in charge.
He was referring to the building of the Architects’ Union of Azerbaijan, the former mansion of flour magnate Aghabala Guliyev, built in 1897-1899 by architect Yevgeny Skibinsky.
“Welcome to the building of the Architects’ Union of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev wrote, describing the historic mansion as a place that, in his view, now reflects the loss of public trust and the growing distance between the union’s leadership and the wider architectural community.
According to Aliyev, the constantly closed heavy doors of the building hide not only luxury, but also a rejection of the principles for which the union was originally created.
He said the security around the building no longer protects a common professional cause or the interests of architects, but instead shields “personal comfort, vanity and the desire to preserve power at any cost.”
Aliyev also criticized what he described as a narrow circle of people close to the leadership, saying some of them have little connection to architecture and are more interested in maintaining their own positions than serving the organization.
In his view, the union has moved away from openness, transparency and equal treatment of its members.
“Where people once spoke about service to society and the development of the profession, today privileges and personal greatness are increasingly discussed,” Aliyev wrote.
He said the organization, once led by respected architects, academics and public figures, was created to defend professional interests and pursue socially important goals.
Today, however, Aliyev argued, it increasingly resembles a decorative facade behind which a system of personal control, privileges and financial influence has taken shape.
He said the union’s existence now appears to serve the interests of a narrow group rather than the majority of architects in the country.
Aliyev expressed particular concern that, in his view, this is happening effectively at public expense. He said resources belonging to a creative union should be directed toward the development of architecture, support for young professionals and socially useful projects.
Instead, he argued, those resources are being used to maintain a closed system of personal influence and privilege.
“From a legal and ethical point of view, such a situation can hardly be called normal,” Aliyev wrote.
He said a creative union meant to unite the professional community has gradually turned into a mechanism for preserving the power of long-standing leadership and its closest circle.
Aliyev also argued that the current situation contradicts the very idea of a public organization.
According to him, many architects have distanced themselves from the union, left its ranks or lost interest in what is happening inside the organization.
He said members of the professional community increasingly speak not with pride about their creative union, but with disappointment, irritation and shame over its current condition.
Aliyev ended his post by asking why society needs such organizations if they stop performing their direct functions.
“What benefit do they bring to the state, the creative intelligentsia and young specialists?” he asked.
He also questioned why structures created to serve public interests turn into closed corporations living by their own rules and existing primarily for themselves.
Aliyev said the main question is how long such a situation can continue and who should ultimately be held responsible for discrediting the very idea of a public association.
Azerbaijan.US is ready to publish a response from the Architects’ Union of Azerbaijan or its representatives if they wish to comment on Aliyev’s allegations.
AZE.US