BAKU September 6, 2025
By Azerbaijan.US Editorial Board
In today’s Azerbaijan, dignity comes with a price tag. A child’s birth, a wedding, a funeral — each step is framed not as a family milestone, but as another financial burden. Too often, families celebrate in debt and mourn in debt, with banks and creditors standing silently at the table.
The problem is no longer just cultural pride; it has become a systemic cycle. Hospitals demand payments, weddings are turned into competitions, and funerals — meant to honor the deceased — bleed families of their savings. Even the final resting place comes with installments: cemetery plots and headstones sold at inflated costs, trapping grieving relatives in yet another round of loans.
As journalist-researchers point out, the pursuit of luxury has even extended to gravestones, where marble and ornament replace modesty. At Baku’s Taza Pir Mosque, memorial meals cost far more than elsewhere in the capital, according to International Eurasia Press Fund president Umud Mirzayev. In regions such as Nakhchivan or Karabakh, the culture of simplicity still holds. In Baku, extravagance rules.
The state, meanwhile, looks the other way. Calls for oversight and regulation — whether standardizing headstones, capping funeral service costs, or enforcing affordable communal spaces — remain unanswered. Religious institutions, too, benefit from the status quo, where grief has become profitable.
This is not just about tradition. It is about exploitation of social pressure, where families fear shame more than bankruptcy. A young couple marries on credit. Parents bury loved ones with borrowed money. A society that ties honor to display rather than substance creates debtors, not dignity.
Breaking this cycle requires courage — from policymakers willing to regulate, from communities willing to say “enough,” and from families brave enough to choose modesty over show. Until then, Azerbaijanis will continue to live — and die — with creditors waiting at the door.
This editorial reflects the position of the Azerbaijan.US Editorial Board, which calls for fairness, dignity, and accountability in social practices across Azerbaijan.
