Like no other place on earth, the Azerbaijani capital of Baku encapsulates everything about the Orient which westerners find enticing, deceptive and spine-chilling. On a moonlit night, its walled Persian quarter has a fairy-tale charm—but to anyone with a vivid imagination, it often seems that a jinn or fallen angel lurks in the shadows. If Baku's atmosphere seems charged, that is mainly because of the liquid that oozes from the earth and lends its odour to the blustery wind. Caspian oil has drawn in many faiths and cultures; Muslims, Christians and Jews as well as lurks, Persians and Slavs. There have been times of benign co-existence; times of wild decadence; and times of violence between suitors for Baku's wealth and beauty.
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