Hungary spends EUR 100 million rebuilding a ghost village — in Azerbaijan

The Hungarian government has committed almost HUF 40 billion (EUR 105 million) to the reconstruction of Soltanli, a largely abandoned village in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region. The project has raised questions about transparency, purpose, and progress: why is that village so important for the Hungarian government?

The expenditure surfaced only after journalists at Magyar Hang examined the contract lists published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (KKM). While the government had previously publicised Hungary’s role in rebuilding the local school, the much higher cost of reconstructing the entire settlement had not been widely communicated.

From school project to full-scale village reconstruction

Hungary has been involved in Soltanli’s redevelopment since late 2023, when state funds were channelled into rebuilding the local school, destroyed during decades of Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict. The school project alone cost HUF 1.35 billion (EUR 3.5 million), and Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó personally attended its cornerstone ceremony:

But documents now show that the government agreed to finance significantly more than a school. In September 2025, two large transfers (totalling HUF 37.64 billion [EUR 98.5 million]) were earmarked for construction works connected to the full reconstruction of the village. Combined with the school project, the total Hungarian contribution reaches nearly HUF 40 billion.

Although the payment records note that funds would be released “if completed”, it remains unclear how much money has been definitively transferred, Magyar Hang writes.

Project managed by Hungary Helps, but with contradictions

The beneficiary of the transfers is Hungary Helps, the government agency primarily known for supporting persecuted Christian communities and restoring damaged churches abroad.

Its involvement here has raised eyebrows. Soltanli lies in a region where the local Armenian Christian population was driven out in 2023 as Azerbaijani forces retook control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Critics argue that the agency is now contributing to reconstruction efforts in the same area from which Christian communities were expelled.

At the same time, the agency has provided comparatively limited funding to Armenian refugees displaced from the region.

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Visible progress hard to identify

Despite the scale of the funds, tangible signs of reconstruction are scarce.

Satellite images from Google Maps and other platforms in 2025 still show ruined, roofless houses and a settlement that appears far from revitalisation. No public updates, photos, or government statements suggest that the project is progressing as planned.

This contrasts starkly with Szijjártó’s comments at a bilateral meeting in Baku in April, where he claimed the village could be completed by the end of 2025. In reality, the ministry’s own contracts list March 2028 as the expected final deadline.

Both the KKM and the construction contractor, the KÉSZ Group, have so far declined to answer questions about the real status of the works, the full financial scope of the project, or how much of the contract value has already been spent.

A high-stakes diplomatic gesture

While Soltanli is a remote settlement more than 2,400 kilometres from Budapest, its reconstruction carries geopolitical weight.

Maintaining strong ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan is a longstanding priority of the Orbán government, which sees Azerbaijani oil and gas as a crucial alternative to Russian energy supplies. Since launching the “Eastern Opening” policy in 2012, Budapest has repeatedly made high-profile diplomatic gestures toward Baku, sometimes generating domestic and international controversy.

Economic cooperation has also intensified. Hungarian exports to Azerbaijan rose from EUR 68 million to EUR 88 million between 2023 and 2024, according to official government data. Major Hungarian energy firms such as MOL and MVM have acquired stakes in Azerbaijani gas fields, with the volume allocated to MVM alone potentially covering one-fifth of Hungary’s annual gas consumption, according to G7’s earlier report.

Against this backdrop, the Soltanli reconstruction project may serve as both a diplomatic favour and a commercial foothold for Hungarian companies involved in international development and construction.

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Transparency questions remain

Despite the billions committed, key details about the project remain unanswered: whether the full HUF 39 billion represents the total cost of the Hungarian contribution, whether additional funding is planned, and how progress on the ground compares with the government’s assurances.

Further uncertainty surrounds a USD 100–120 million credit line opened by the Hungarian Eximbank to support Hungarian firms participating in reconstruction projects across Azerbaijan’s war-damaged regions, suggesting that Soltanli may not be the only large-scale initiative backed by Budapest.