Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani parliament has adopted the country’s military strategy, following many years of discussions on the issue. The adoption of this document in the Milli Majlis sparked mixed responses from different groups of Azerbaijani society.
Some experts went as far as saying that the Military Doctrine, which passed in the first parliamentary hearing, is incomplete and generally worded, and even termed it as a draft merely translated from similar documents of other countries. However, there are quite a few supporters of the doctrine as well.
Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu has regarded the newly-adopted doctrine as an outstanding document.
"Work on this document had proceeded for several years. The main purpose was to draft a perfect doctrine – a conceptual document that would be able to ensure Azerbaijan’s military-political security. In our opinion, Azerbaijan has managed to accomplish that."
Sabiroglu said, further, that according to existing experience, military doctrines are not considered long-term documents that could not undergo changes. "If a need arises, it can be supplemented or amended anew, or a new one can be worked upon."
Analyst Elkhan Shahinoglu wrote in an article that the text of the adopted military doctrine delivers outright messages, which should be interperted as follows: "Azerbaijan has not set out the goal of NATO membership, there is no need to highlight [its] military-strategic alliance with Turkey, and our sole enemy is Armenia."
At the same time, the pundit opines that the military doctrine covers both Russia and Iran.
"Only upon reading the document thoroughly, the presence of covert messages drew my attention. Though you don’t come across the words "Russia" and "Iran" in the doctrine, there are implications about the policies of these two countries – either intentional or not."
Shahinoglu further referred to one of the document’s provisions. "Some states and non-governmental subjects’ efforts aimed at acquiring weapons of mass destruction and means of delivering them jeopardize the regime of non-proliferation of the weapons of this type."
"Do the words cited in this provision relate to our southern neighbor?" Shahinoglu queires. "The international community today bewares specifically of Iran’s acquiring nuclear weapons and is trying to take action to counter this."*