Azerbaijan, Turkey mull prospects of military cooperation
By Vafa Ismayilova
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov and Turkish Baykar Company's Chief Technology Officer Selcuk Bayraktar have discussed the current state and prospects for the development of Azerbaijani-Turkish military-technical cooperation, the Defence Ministry reported on its website on April 1.
At the meeting with the visiting Turkish delegation, stressed that Azerbaijani-Turkish military cooperation is based on fraternal and friendly relations and is successfully developing and strengthening.
It was stressed that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) produced by Baykar Company, which are in the armament of the Azerbaijan Army, have significantly strengthened Azerbaijan's military capabilities.
"Due to the effective use of these UAVs during the Patriotic War, the enemy was seriously hit, as well as a large amount of the enemy’s manpower and military vehicles were destroyed," the report added.
The defence minister also highlighted at the meeting the significant role of friendly ties between the Azerbaijani and Turkish leaders in boosting ties and stressed the importance of such meetings in terms of expanding mutual cooperation, the ministry said.
Earlier on April 1, Bayraktar was received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku.
Selcuk Bayraktar, the creator of the Bayraktar TB2 UAVs that played an important role in the victory in the Patriotic War, announced his arrival in Azerbaijan on his official Twitter account.
"Greetings to all from Jan Azerbaijan! Today in Baku we visited the grave of late [Azerbaijani President] Heydar Aliyev, our martyrs. May the souls of our martyrs rest in peace. Together we breathed in the wonderful air of our brotherhood. Long live the Azerbaijani-Turkish brotherhood!" he wrote.
In early February, Azerbaijani servicemen successfully completed the 4-month course entitled "UAV Operator Bayraktar TB".
In January, Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev said that Azerbaijan witnessed the successful result of the military-technical cooperation with Turkey and the effectiveness of the Bayraktar UAVs that Azerbaijan used in the battles during the war.
The top official underlined that the successful result of cooperation and effectiveness of the UAVs are based on great scientific potential. Hajiyev said that the two countries established close cooperation in the scientific field as well.
"Our main goal for the coming period is to strengthen this cooperation," the presidential aide noted.
Since 1991, Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity and realize its economic potential arising from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea. The two countries share an 11-kilometre border, with the Araz River separating Turkey from Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave.
Turkey and Russia are represented with an equal number of servicemen in the joint centre to monitor the situation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh under a trilateral peace agreement signed by Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia on November 10 to end the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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