Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

June 26 this year marks a remarkable date for Azerbaijan – the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the most powerful army in the South Caucasus region – the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

The history of the modern Azerbaijani army dates back to the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic that was founded on May 28, 1918. A month later, on June 26, the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic were created to protect the country from foreign military aggression.

In May 1998, the former President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev declared this historic day as the Day of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, and since then, the date is celebrated annually in the country.

Over the years, the national army has gone through numerous improvements, which resulted in the present Azerbaijani Armed Forces being one of the strongest and most highly disciplined armies in the world and the leading one in the region. In its latest report, the U.S.-based Global Firepower survey center, which conducts the constant monitoring of the armies worldwide, put Azerbaijan among the first 53 strongest armies of the world.

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces consist of four branches: the Land Forces, the Air and Air Defense Force and the Navy. Each of them is equipped with new high-quality weapons both of domestic and foreign production.

Presently, Azerbaijan cooperates with such countries as Turkey, Israel, Russia, the U.S., etc. in terms of purchasing the weaponry. At the same time, there are 28 military factories operating within the country’s Defense Industry Ministry, which consistently increase the volume of production.

Such weapons and vehicles of local production as mortars of various caliber, their ammunition, machine guns, various sniper rifles of special purpose, Matador and Marauder armored personnel carriers, automatic grenade launcher complexes, PG-7V grenade launchers, unmanned aerial vehicles, aerial bombs for training exercise, etc. are today at the full disposal of the Azerbaijani Army.

Obviously, the skills and combat readiness of the army of any country must be constantly improved. Therefore, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces regularly conduct military drills to enhance its capabilities. The drills take place both in the territory of the country and in other states, such as Turkey, Russia, and Georgia. These exercises have proved the Azerbaijani Army’s readiness to fulfill the most complex tasks of modern war with success, showed a significant increase in its combat capability and professionalism, as well as the ability to skillfully use modern weapon systems and military equipment.

Moreover, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have collaborated with NATO under the Partnership for the Peace Program since 1994 and maintain military cooperation with a number of foreign states. Thus, the Azerbaijani Army increases its contribution to international security and stability. The peacekeeping divisions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have served in international peacekeeping efforts forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Presently, Azerbaijan participates in international peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan. A 120-member peacekeeping contingent of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has been serving there since November 2002 within the NATO Resolute Support training, advisory, assistance, and counter-terror mission.

In general, the development of the Armed Forces is utterly important for Azerbaijan, since 20 percent of the country’s internationally recognized territory – Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions – are under Armenian occupation since the 1990s.

Therefore, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan are entrusted with the task of liberating the occupied lands in case the efforts to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully are unsuccessful. This may only happen because of the constant reluctance of the Armenian side to join constructive negotiations with Azerbaijan under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is tasked with finding a peaceful solution to the conflict.

The Armenia-incited April fights in 2016, where the Armenian troops received a strong rebuff from the Azerbaijani Army and suffered much loss, were the indicator of the Armenian army’s weakness against the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. As a result of the successful counteroffensive, the Azerbaijani Army liberated more than 2,000 hectares of territory from the Armenian occupation. Another success of the Azerbaijani Army was achieved this month in Nakhchivan, where 11,000 hectares of land were liberated from occupation.

Today, there is no doubt that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces will continue to further improve their skills and combat readiness, as well as gladden the population of the country with their victories in the frontline.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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