In various countries around the world, there have been instances of capitals being relocated due to political, economic, and strategic reasons. In recent years, opinions have also been voiced in Azerbaijan from time to time regarding the relocation of the capital from Baku to another city.
So, can the relocation of Azerbaijan’s capital to Lankaran be considered a realistic scenario in the future?
elchi reports that Tural Abbasli, chairman of the White Party, who gave a statement to KONKRET.az on the subject, stated that the issue of changing the capital in Azerbaijan has been discussed before.
“The issue of moving Baku as the capital comes up from time to time. But usually, Yevlakh was considered. Recently, the Aghdam option was being discussed. However, we have not seen Lankaran being proposed as a capital until now.”
According to him, the relocation of capitals in the world is related to various reasons:
“Usually, there is congestion in cities, and functionality weakens. Security, demographic, and management issues are also the main factors influencing the change of a capital.
If the goal is to achieve the development of other cities, it is possible to do this without changing the capital. Relocating the capital is a quite laborious, expensive, and problematic process. It is not such a simple matter.”
It would be a more appropriate approach to form large development centers in different regions of Azerbaijan. Special state programs can be prepared and implemented to develop separate cities in the southern, northern, western regions, Shirvan, and Karabakh to a level comparable to Baku.”