Since 2014 the residents of Sovetski have lived in a state of flux. After the announcement of the neighborhood's demolition two years ago some people immediately packed up and left to stay with family outside the city. The majority, however, stayed either to fight for...

In late 2013 filmmaker Vincent Moon visited Azerbaijan to create a documentary about the country's traditional music, the places that gave birth to it, and the culture surrounding it. After traveling through the regions he arrived in Baku to record some of the country'...

Overall in Sovetski, my family lived in two houses. My grandma’s house was on Fuzuli street, which we referred to as “Shakhskiy” street (King Street). My grandma was the oldest person in our family, so all my relatives would gather around her occasionally, asking her o...

What happens to the homes left behind when a neighborhood relocates? Before they're knocked down, these buildings will often sit empty for weeks and months at a time. With the Azerbaijan Manat plummeting in value and unemployment on the rise, one way people have found...

Towards the end of Zergerpalan Street, tucked behind 5 Mertebe, was an unassuming apartment. The outside was ornate, yes, but no more so than the rest of the buildings in this part of Sovetski. The only thing setting it apart was a small plaque written in...

Mehelle is a growing project with new material going up on our map every week. We'll be highlighting one of these new stories here every Monday.

When looking at video and photos from Sovetski over the past two years, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a...

For the past two years the residents of Sovetski have slowly been relocating from the neighborhood after either accepting paid compensation from the government, or being forced out by the police. The slow pace of the neighborhood's relocation combined with an erratic c...