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AZERBAIJANIS FLOCK TO IRAN FOR FOOD AND MEDICINES
http://www.a1plus.am/en/social/2012/06/01/azerbaijan-iran
12:47 pm | Today | Social
People from southern Azerbaijan make regular trips to neighbouring
Iran to buy food and access healthcare. Despite the crowds and
obstructive officials at the border crossing, they say it is still
worth the effort for the money they save.
For some commentators, the cross-border trade is also a cause for
alarm, where some see it as another avenue through which Tehran can
project its influence. Despite cultural similarities between the two
nations, post-Soviet Azerbaijan and Islamic Iran maintain an uneasy
coexistence.
"There are many unemployed people like me in Astara, and most of the
men in work have insecure temporary jobs and earn a maximum of 200
manats [250 US dollars] a month," Akif Huseynov, from the border town
of Astara, said. "How can you feed a family on that amount? We have
to go to Iran, where everything is half the price it is here."
The frontier separates Astara from its Iranian namesake, and
long queues form at customs as people from other parts of southern
Azerbaijan like Lenkoran and Lerik join the locals on their shopping
forays.
Huseynov said Iranian officials were helpful and did not stop people
going home with bagloads of food they had bought - in contrast to
their Azerbaijani counterparts.
"Each time we go, our customs officers take half our food away from us
and discard it. Supposedly you're not allowed to bring in more than
ten kilograms of foodstuffs, and they say you have to pay one or two
manats for every extra kilogram. That makes the cost the same as it is
in Astara, and you'd have to ask why you even went to Iran," he said.
Before walking across to the Iranian side, would-be visitors have to
wait inside one of a pair of caged enclosures, which lead to customs
in Astara.
When an IWPR reporter visited, a crowd of Azerbaijani nationals were
kept waiting in one of these for three hours. The other enclosure,
designated for foreign citizens, was faster, though it still took an
hour. A cleaner pointed the journalist to this faster route, which
she said she could enter in return for a "small fee".
"You can see this horror show every day from early in the morning
until 12 or one o'clock," said Maqsud, a man from Yardimli in southern
Azerbaijan. "The majority of these people are lie me, going to Iran
for food. First you have to wait two or three hours just to get inside
the cage, then you have to stand inside it for about the same amount
of time. It's closed off on all sides and people often get ill there.
And it takes an hour for the border guards to open the door while
you're shouting at them."
Despite this treatment, Maqsud said he went to Iran twice a month.
"I am a teacher on 240 manats [a month]. If I don't go to Iran to get
food, my family will starve," he said. "Of course you can shell out
ten or 15 manats and go via the left-hand cage which is meant for
foreigners. People are allowed through quicker and you don't have
to wait nearly as long. But I can buy a lot of food in Iran for that
money, so it's a shame to give it to the border guards."
Asen Hashimli, a member of the opposition Musavat party who lives in
Iran, said the situation was an indictment of conditions in Azerbaijan.
"All these people are going to Iran for cheap food, manufactured goods
and medicines. And it isn't the first year this has been happening," he
said. "Medicines in Iran are low in price and high in quality. For poor
Azerbaijanis, Iran has become the only hope of feeding their families
and getting treatment. And sadly, Azerbaijani customs exploit them."
Safura Qadimova is among those who have benefited from Iran's
healthcare system.
"I've been married eight years, but we didn't have children. I
underwent endless tests and treatment, amounting to over 5,000 manats,"
she said. "In the end, my friends advised me to go to Iran. I spent
400 dollars there and it only took a month - after the first course
of treatment, I got pregnant immediately."
Natig Ibadov, Astara's deputy mayor with special responsibility
for healthcare, acknowledged that local residents often went to
Iran for treatment, but he insisted the town's new hospital would
improve matters.
"It's got everything. The president set aside another two million
manats to build a second wing. Now we'll be able to treat our own
patients and there will be no need to go to Iran," Ibadov said.
The hospital is certainly large and looks well-equipped. But when this
IWPR contributor visited it, there was not a single patient in sight,
just doctors and nurses sitting drinking tea.
Hashimli said the hospital would do little to stem the flow of people
heading for Iran.
"If we don't have decent doctors, and the ones we do have think
only about getting money from their patients, then who's going to go
there?" he asked. "Everyone is still going to Iran."
Hashimli said the government needed to pay more attention to southern
parts of Azerbaijan because of their strategically sensitive location.
"It's no secret that Iran wields influence in southern areas of
Azerbaijan. And now it's expanding its influence because of the
local population's needs," he said. "Our government has to take this
seriously. It must provide people with work and create the conditions
for them to live decent lives, to study and to access medical
treatment, so that citizens of Azerbaijan aren't reliant on Iran."
Samira Ahmedbeyli is an IWPR reporter on Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.a1plus.am/en/social/2012/06/01/azerbaijan-iran
12:47 pm | Today | Social
People from southern Azerbaijan make regular trips to neighbouring
Iran to buy food and access healthcare. Despite the crowds and
obstructive officials at the border crossing, they say it is still
worth the effort for the money they save.
For some commentators, the cross-border trade is also a cause for
alarm, where some see it as another avenue through which Tehran can
project its influence. Despite cultural similarities between the two
nations, post-Soviet Azerbaijan and Islamic Iran maintain an uneasy
coexistence.
"There are many unemployed people like me in Astara, and most of the
men in work have insecure temporary jobs and earn a maximum of 200
manats [250 US dollars] a month," Akif Huseynov, from the border town
of Astara, said. "How can you feed a family on that amount? We have
to go to Iran, where everything is half the price it is here."
The frontier separates Astara from its Iranian namesake, and
long queues form at customs as people from other parts of southern
Azerbaijan like Lenkoran and Lerik join the locals on their shopping
forays.
Huseynov said Iranian officials were helpful and did not stop people
going home with bagloads of food they had bought - in contrast to
their Azerbaijani counterparts.
"Each time we go, our customs officers take half our food away from us
and discard it. Supposedly you're not allowed to bring in more than
ten kilograms of foodstuffs, and they say you have to pay one or two
manats for every extra kilogram. That makes the cost the same as it is
in Astara, and you'd have to ask why you even went to Iran," he said.
Before walking across to the Iranian side, would-be visitors have to
wait inside one of a pair of caged enclosures, which lead to customs
in Astara.
When an IWPR reporter visited, a crowd of Azerbaijani nationals were
kept waiting in one of these for three hours. The other enclosure,
designated for foreign citizens, was faster, though it still took an
hour. A cleaner pointed the journalist to this faster route, which
she said she could enter in return for a "small fee".
"You can see this horror show every day from early in the morning
until 12 or one o'clock," said Maqsud, a man from Yardimli in southern
Azerbaijan. "The majority of these people are lie me, going to Iran
for food. First you have to wait two or three hours just to get inside
the cage, then you have to stand inside it for about the same amount
of time. It's closed off on all sides and people often get ill there.
And it takes an hour for the border guards to open the door while
you're shouting at them."
Despite this treatment, Maqsud said he went to Iran twice a month.
"I am a teacher on 240 manats [a month]. If I don't go to Iran to get
food, my family will starve," he said. "Of course you can shell out
ten or 15 manats and go via the left-hand cage which is meant for
foreigners. People are allowed through quicker and you don't have
to wait nearly as long. But I can buy a lot of food in Iran for that
money, so it's a shame to give it to the border guards."
Asen Hashimli, a member of the opposition Musavat party who lives in
Iran, said the situation was an indictment of conditions in Azerbaijan.
"All these people are going to Iran for cheap food, manufactured goods
and medicines. And it isn't the first year this has been happening," he
said. "Medicines in Iran are low in price and high in quality. For poor
Azerbaijanis, Iran has become the only hope of feeding their families
and getting treatment. And sadly, Azerbaijani customs exploit them."
Safura Qadimova is among those who have benefited from Iran's
healthcare system.
"I've been married eight years, but we didn't have children. I
underwent endless tests and treatment, amounting to over 5,000 manats,"
she said. "In the end, my friends advised me to go to Iran. I spent
400 dollars there and it only took a month - after the first course
of treatment, I got pregnant immediately."
Natig Ibadov, Astara's deputy mayor with special responsibility
for healthcare, acknowledged that local residents often went to
Iran for treatment, but he insisted the town's new hospital would
improve matters.
"It's got everything. The president set aside another two million
manats to build a second wing. Now we'll be able to treat our own
patients and there will be no need to go to Iran," Ibadov said.
The hospital is certainly large and looks well-equipped. But when this
IWPR contributor visited it, there was not a single patient in sight,
just doctors and nurses sitting drinking tea.
Hashimli said the hospital would do little to stem the flow of people
heading for Iran.
"If we don't have decent doctors, and the ones we do have think
only about getting money from their patients, then who's going to go
there?" he asked. "Everyone is still going to Iran."
Hashimli said the government needed to pay more attention to southern
parts of Azerbaijan because of their strategically sensitive location.
"It's no secret that Iran wields influence in southern areas of
Azerbaijan. And now it's expanding its influence because of the
local population's needs," he said. "Our government has to take this
seriously. It must provide people with work and create the conditions
for them to live decent lives, to study and to access medical
treatment, so that citizens of Azerbaijan aren't reliant on Iran."
Samira Ahmedbeyli is an IWPR reporter on Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress