Baku, September 17, 2025
Heydar Aliyev International Airport is often praised as a modern gateway between Azerbaijan and the world. Yet what greets passengers there also exposes how laws in the country are selectively applied.
The debate was sparked by a recent Facebook post from educator Vahid Qasim, who described the airport as “one of the most pleasant places for me, a door to an alternative world. Yet it behaves as if it stands apart from Azerbaijan and its laws.”
Qasim highlighted a billboard promoting a luxury Caspian resort, where Russian dominates and Azerbaijani appears only as a smaller line. This, he noted, openly violates the advertising law, which states that if foreign languages are used, the Azerbaijani text must come first and cannot occupy less space.
“You can see how this law is respected in the advertisement below,” he remarked.
His post went further, pointing to monopolistic practices within the airport grounds. Despite the adoption of a comprehensive Competition Code in 2023, by 2025 services like Bolt and Yango had been deactivated at the airport. Passengers are left with only “London Taxi” and a special “Bolt Airport” option – a setup that undermines the principle of fair competition.
“Laws are a beautiful thing,” Qasim wrote. “But do we really have an institution in this country that takes responsibility for enforcing them?”
These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a broader pattern in which regulations are applied unevenly, protecting monopolies and privileged projects while ordinary businesses and citizens are expected to comply without exception.
For a country seeking to strengthen its international reputation and attract investment, the contradictions are glaring. Visitors landing in Baku are greeted by signs that the law itself can be set aside when convenience or influence dictates. The airport may be a gateway to the world, but it also mirrors the double standards at home.
