“Azerbaijan has earned hundreds of billions of dollars from oil, yet they have not been able to solve even a sewage problem in Baku.”
This was stated by Ali Karimli, chairman of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), who is currently being held in the detention facility of the State Security Service (SSS).
In a statement released to the public through his family, the party chairman said he is watching with great regret from the SSS detention center as Baku is flooded.
“Almost every day we hear news about rising oil prices. Azerbaijani oil is being sold at a price twice as high as what was planned in the budget. Logically, this should positively affect the lives of our people. However, unfortunately, from our bitter experience we know that rising oil prices do not improve the social condition of our citizens; on the contrary, prices continue to rise and social problems become more severe. The Azerbaijani people do not benefit from oil revenues but suffer from inflation and long-standing social issues.”, Karimli said.
Ali Karimli, chairman of the APFP, and party assembly member Mammad Ibrahim have been under arrest since November 29, 2025. They have been charged with actions aimed at forcibly changing the constitutional order of the state. Their arrests are linked to a broad investigation surrounding former head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev. The opposition and their supporters say the arrests are politically motivated. International human rights organizations and observers have described the arrests as an example of political repression.
In his statement, the party chairman said that the Azerbaijani people do not benefit from oil revenues, but instead suffer from inflation and long-standing social problems:
“Because Azerbaijan’s national resources, especially oil and gas, are used not for the welfare of its people but to enrich a small group. That is why, despite selling oil for decades and boasting of supplying gas to 16 countries, Azerbaijan’s authorities have still not managed to build even a proper sewage system in the capital. All this shows that the Azerbaijani people must first focus on building a state that serves them. Both social and political problems will remain unresolved until the people of Azerbaijan have a government that serves them, is accountable to them, and is formed by them.”
Continuous heavy rains over the past few days have caused serious consequences in Baku and the Absheron Peninsula. Streets, courtyards, and residential homes in several areas of the capital and Absheron district have been flooded. Similar problems have been recurring during heavy rains in recent years. In October 2024, two people died when a tunnel in the Sabunchu district was flooded.
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