Azerbaijani Government has spent 19 mln euros for the Cultural Center in Berlin

In case you are willing to hold various events each year in order to advocate and promote the culture of Azerbaijan, how would you organise it? Which option would you prefer, to rent a place in one of the event centres in the city, or to build an entire building that costs millions of euros? 

The Azerbaijani government chose the second option: to build a multi million euros worth cultural center in one of the posh areas of Berlin, Germany’s capital. 

In this investigative story Mikroskop Media will show how much it cost Azerbaijani government to establish the cultural centre, the person behind the initiative and its posh area. 

What center is this? 

The first event of the Azerbaijan culture centre was held in June 2022, located at  Klingelhöferstraße 20 and operates under the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Germany. There were 7 events in total in the first year: birth anniversary of Heydar Aliyev, the former president of Azerbaijan and father of Ilham Aliyev, 30th anniversary of Germany-Azerbaijan relationships and other events. 

The Culture Center. Credit: Javid Abdullayev / Mikroskop Media

Representatives of the German Federal Foreign Office and other governmental bodies, diplomats and Azerbaijani diaspora in Germany have attended those events, according to the official website of the embassy. 

When it comes to the who was behind the idea, at the opening ceremony the Azerbaijani ambassador to Germany Ramin Hasanov mentioned that it was Ilham Aliyev’s wife, the vice-president Mehriban Aliyeva, idea and established based on the order of president which was signed in 2019. Hasanov was recalled from his ambassador post last year and appointed to the Korea Republic instead. 

The establishment of the mentioned center is a very important contribution of the leadership of our country to the promotion of the rich Azerbaijani culture in Germany and the development of cultural relations between our countries, – ambassador described in his speech.

Ten Years To Build 

Official documents obtained by Mikroskop Media from the Berlin land registry show, Azerbaijan has paid nearly five million euros for a 1306 m2 land plot, located in Tiergarten. According to the contract, the purpose of the purchase is “to build a culture centre” which will operate under the embassy. 

From the Azerbaijan government side, the purchase was signed by Parviz Shahbazov, current Energy Minister who was ambassador to Germany at that time. 

Screenshot of the Power of Attorney by Azerbaijan to Parviz Shahbazov

The contract includes monthly or annual expenses of a park which is located in the area of the Culture Centre, besides one-time costs: 

• Cleaning 
• Taxes for park 
• Mowing the lawn 
• Watering the flowers
• Weekly cleaning of garbage 

In 2014 the land plot officially registered under the name of the Republic of Azerbaijan and within several months the construction of the building began. Reporters found, the construction has continued during 2016-2019. 

There is only a little information available on the internet regarding the construction of the cultural center, apart from the order of Aliyev which he signed in July 2019.  

Why Most Luxurious Place of Germany? 

There are several districts in Berlin which are considered the central. 

Besides the Mitte and Wedding, Tiergarten, where the culture center is located, is also one of the central districts. The street of the culture center is considered the “The street of embassies”, since the embassies of Mexico, Senegal, Malaysia are located on the same street. 

Headquarter of CDU. Credit: Javid Abdullayev / Mikroskop Media

Konrad Adenauer Foundation building. Credit: Javid Abdullayev / Mikroskop Media

The Embassy of Mexico to Germany. Credit: Javid Abdullayev / Mikroskop Media

What the New Yorker the Central Park and the Londoner the Hyde Park, the Berliner is the Tiergarten: the green lung of the metropolis

says the official website of Berlin.  

Additionally, real estate market reports for the district show that Tiergarten is quite an expensive and luxurious area to buy the property. One of those reports, which was published in 2023, says the per square meter of the residential building costs more than 8,000 Euros. The rental price is also the most expensive in the city in this district. 

Which Company Was in Charge of Construction? 

The construction of the building was entrusted to BATEG, a German construction company. The company was established in 1994 in Germany by Turkish businessmen and since that date BATEG has constructed different building projects with a huge budget. These are Humboldt University’s Central Library, the new main building of the Leipzig University, Red Bull Leipzig Education Center, etc.  

Besides it, the company also involved construction of many different buildings in various fields, like residential building, school, leisure and sport complex, university, etc. 

According to the information that Mikroskop Media reporters obtained from “North Data”, BATEG included the Azerbaijan Culture Center construction in the company’s annual report as “in the future plans”. According to the company’s 2015 annual reports, construction of the center was planned to be finalized by 2016 and 2017. 

However the construction has continued after 2017 and the company included it as a plan for the following years. 

The official website of the BATEG  shows the cost of the project as 14,2 million euros. 

Certain parts of the construction, like design of the facade, writing inscriptions on the building, installation of windows and doors were done by various German companies. 

One building, two architects 

There are two German and Azerbaijani architects of the building: Claus Neumann and Nariman Imamaliyev. 

Nariman, who was awarded to “Honored architect” in 2012 by Azerbaijan’s Aliyev, is the author of several buildings in Azerbaijan, like the first building of the state Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST) and the new administrative building of the Customs Committee. In addition to that, Imamaliyev is also a member of the Board of the Union of Architects and he was awarded the “Progress Medal” by president Ilham Aliyev in 2021. 

Architect Nariman Imamaliyev (second from the left) attends the opening ceremony of culture center. Credit: The official website of the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Germany

On the official website of Azerbaijani architect Imamaliyev different versions for designs of the building of the cultural center have been published but without any information about the cost. But, information on the website of German architect Neumann has listed the cost as 12 million euros. 

Claus Neumann is also an author of various buildings in Germany, like residential buildings, hotels, and also the Konrad Adenauer Foundation which is also located in the same street with the Culture Centre. 

Where does the money come from? Was there any need? 

Reporters discovered, the doors of the Cultural Center are usually closed and only open during the events. According to the news and posts published by the Embassy show, representatives of those events are mostly government officials from Germany, Azerbaijan’s embassy staff, and Diaspora people. So it is not to whom the culture of the country is known and promoted. 

The information about how much Azerbaijani government spent to build the center and other related costs have not been disclosed by any state institution. However, according to the economist Toghrul Valiyev, the spendings from the state budget should be disclosed and it doesn’t matter whether the project is implemented in the country, or abroad, it is required to sign the public procurement contract based on the legislation. 

All expenditures from the state budget, regardless of their purpose and destination, are subject to the Law “On State Procurement”. There may be some exceptions, like military expenses etc. but if there is no special exception, then the purchase contract should be signed.

Valiyev told Mikroskop Media.

Valiyev emphasizes that there are quite a lot of and more successful examples of promoting the culture of the country, in comparison with the building costs millions of euros. 

For instance, in Georgia there are grants provided by the state for the translation of Georgian authors’ books to foreign languages. Logically it would be more effective to use this way, or presenting Azerbaijani movies abroad rather than building the culture centre. However, the Azerbaijan government prefers to use ways like Formula 1 and contracting buildings abroad like this. Does it have any effect? I don’t think so.

Even though Mikroskop Media sent an inquiry to the Foreign Ministry on how much has been spent for the cultural center’s construction and other related costs, they didn’t respond. 

Other Examples 

Besides Berlin, there are several culture centres of Azerbaijan in different European and Central Asian countries.  

In 2012, the Azerbaijan Cultural Center was opened in Paris with the participation of President Ilham Aliyev and Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva. According to the official news about the opening ceremony, the centre was established with support of Heydar Aliyev Centre and the Embassy of Azerbaijan in France. 

Another culture centre is located in Vienna, Austria. This one also operates under the embassy of Azerbaijan and the president signed the order regarding launching the center, in November 2012. The opening ceremony took place in 2013 where Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva were attending. 

Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyev in the building of the Cultural Center in Paris. Credit: president.az

The culture Centre in Uzbekistan is named after Heydar Aliyev and the opening ceremony of it was held in 2010 following the capital repair and in this ceremony also Ilham Aliyev had attended. This centre includes several museums as well. 

Unlike the culture centre in Berlin, centres in other cities have an official website which allows you to get more information about the activity of the centre. 

Soon there will be more Azerbaijan Culture Centres. 

Ilham Aliyev signed an order in June, 2023 to establish the Azerbaijan Culture Centre in Ankara, which will operate under the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Turkey.  Another brand new embassy will operate under the embassy of Azerbaijan to Italy, according to the order of the president which was signed in September, 2022. 

While we are on the topic of buying land in Berlin… 

At the same time Azerbaijan has also purchased one more land plot in order to construct the new building for the embassy. Both lands for the cultural center and embassy have been part of one sale contract. 

The 957 square meter land plot for the embassy is located in Von-der-Heydt street 3, in Berlin and Azerbaijani government paid 3 million euros for the purchase. 

Although 11 years have passed,  there is not a single building in this address. Reporters also didn’t see any progress during their recent visit to the field. 

The embassy building’s architects are also the same people – Nariman Imamaliyev and Claus Neumann. The project was shared by both of their official websites. According to the official website of “Nariman Memarliq” the building was supposed to be finalized in 2016, however the embassy of Azerbaijan to Berlin still operates in the same address – Hubertusallee 43. 

According to the official website of Claus Neumann , the cost of the project is 10 million euros. 

Previously another one building had been purchased for the embassy of Azerbaijan in Germany which was located at Hoffmanstrasse 11 and Ilham Aliyev signed an order to sell the building in 2008. 

Elizabeth Baker