Toward the end of 1992 year I boarded plane with my documents proving out that I am a scholarship student from an airfield Istanbul for Baku, the capital of the former Soviet Republic Azerbaijan. There I had taken in the State University for foreign languages.
I was excited from the coming changes in my life. I had great and rather vague expectations. The first disappointment met me on the international airfield of Baku. At time of the communist regime at our place The Soviet Union was painted in bright colours. But here, in the capital of one from its republics (although then it was former republic already) and at exactly to its international airfield the beautiful picture, which has represented consciously by the regime in Bulgaria, evaporated instantly.
The international airfield was a building, which looked like more of some village bus stations. Neglected, everywhere flying junk and full chaos in the traffic by personnel, passengers and luggage.
After some hours quest for my luggage I succeeded to find it and to get into one old car ‘ Moskvich ‘ which I went to the city. The Azerbaijan language is Turkic. It is closer to the Turkish language, which the Turks speak in Kardjali than literary Turkish. Exactly for that I succeeded to make a bargain with the taxi driver for 2000 roubles (then about 2 dollars).
While I was trying to understand from where we pass I noticed that the taxi driver has got many golden teeth. Later I understood that the number for the golden incisors isn’t sign for social position. Sooner they believed that the gold purges away them.
Already I am in Baku, where I will spend six years of my life.
I rented a flat next to the underground “20th January”. It turned out that I have come opposite the American embassy. At first sight the measures for the security diidn’t focus attention but the adjusted armoured cars for city circumstances, dozens of cameras and fence resembling to the castle wall everything this wouldn’t be hide. It was 1992 year, in that part of the world, and especially in Caucasus there was chaos. The transition period from the Soviet republic to independent Azerbaijan has just begun. The country was in military conflict with Armenia for the autonomous area Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds of families had forced to run away from there and to seek refuge in the capital. While the Azerbaijan was at war with Armenia for Karabakh, the reconnaissance systems of the neighbour countries Iran, Turkey, Russia and also the western countries made “ plays on the silent front “ between themselves in the country. The political passion of the Azrbaijanis often turned into attempts for military coup. From time to time someone came to the fore and said that he has announced autonomous republic in some part of the country. By one such situation in the country, after the former secretary- general of the Soviet Azerbaijan and the general from KGB Haydar Ali sat on the presidential chair with coup d’etat again, in Baku had declared commandant time. To 3 000 000 habitants of the city, except the deputies of the forces for security had forbidden to go to the street from 7 p. m. to 7 a.m. Against non-observance of commandant time could shoot on sight. At day I was in the University on lectures and before 7p.m. I had to be in my lodging. In this time there wasn’t the Net, there weren’t satelitte televisions and mobile phones. The TV channels were two – the one was the state Azerbaijan and the other the Russian channel – “ORT”.
In the small bachelor’s rooms the commandant time pushed me to my claustrophobia more. In order to I run away from it and to don’t “make friends” with some bullet keeping the forbiddance at night, I decided to draw caricatures.
After times the commandant time was countermanded and I stopped to draw. But I keep them to remind me how I have done the caricatures against bullets.
I was excited from the coming changes in my life. I had great and rather vague expectations. The first disappointment met me on the international airfield of Baku. At time of the communist regime at our place The Soviet Union was painted in bright colours. But here, in the capital of one from its republics (although then it was former republic already) and at exactly to its international airfield the beautiful picture, which has represented consciously by the regime in Bulgaria, evaporated instantly.
The international airfield was a building, which looked like more of some village bus stations. Neglected, everywhere flying junk and full chaos in the traffic by personnel, passengers and luggage.
After some hours quest for my luggage I succeeded to find it and to get into one old car ‘ Moskvich ‘ which I went to the city. The Azerbaijan language is Turkic. It is closer to the Turkish language, which the Turks speak in Kardjali than literary Turkish. Exactly for that I succeeded to make a bargain with the taxi driver for 2000 roubles (then about 2 dollars).
While I was trying to understand from where we pass I noticed that the taxi driver has got many golden teeth. Later I understood that the number for the golden incisors isn’t sign for social position. Sooner they believed that the gold purges away them.
Already I am in Baku, where I will spend six years of my life.
I rented a flat next to the underground “20th January”. It turned out that I have come opposite the American embassy. At first sight the measures for the security diidn’t focus attention but the adjusted armoured cars for city circumstances, dozens of cameras and fence resembling to the castle wall everything this wouldn’t be hide. It was 1992 year, in that part of the world, and especially in Caucasus there was chaos. The transition period from the Soviet republic to independent Azerbaijan has just begun. The country was in military conflict with Armenia for the autonomous area Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds of families had forced to run away from there and to seek refuge in the capital. While the Azerbaijan was at war with Armenia for Karabakh, the reconnaissance systems of the neighbour countries Iran, Turkey, Russia and also the western countries made “ plays on the silent front “ between themselves in the country. The political passion of the Azrbaijanis often turned into attempts for military coup. From time to time someone came to the fore and said that he has announced autonomous republic in some part of the country. By one such situation in the country, after the former secretary- general of the Soviet Azerbaijan and the general from KGB Haydar Ali sat on the presidential chair with coup d’etat again, in Baku had declared commandant time. To 3 000 000 habitants of the city, except the deputies of the forces for security had forbidden to go to the street from 7 p. m. to 7 a.m. Against non-observance of commandant time could shoot on sight. At day I was in the University on lectures and before 7p.m. I had to be in my lodging. In this time there wasn’t the Net, there weren’t satelitte televisions and mobile phones. The TV channels were two – the one was the state Azerbaijan and the other the Russian channel – “ORT”.
In the small bachelor’s rooms the commandant time pushed me to my claustrophobia more. In order to I run away from it and to don’t “make friends” with some bullet keeping the forbiddance at night, I decided to draw caricatures.
After times the commandant time was countermanded and I stopped to draw. But I keep them to remind me how I have done the caricatures against bullets.
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