The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced on Monday the start of military exercises with Turkey near Armenia, in a context of tensions between Baku and Yerevan after the Azerbaijani reconquest of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Soldiers practicing the use of artillery and aviation
According to the ministry, these maneuvers are organized in Baku, in the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhichevan, bordering Armenia and Iran, as well as in “liberated territories”, the location of which has not been specified and which could designate Karabakh or adjoining Azerbaijani districts. These exercises will mobilize up to 3,000 soldiers from the two countries, dozens of armored vehicles, artillery and around twenty aircraft, the ministry said.
Their goal is “to ensure coherence in combat”, “to improve command” as well as the “professionalism of the troops”, according to Azerbaijan. The soldiers will practice using artillery and aviation, building pontoons and parachuting into enemy territory, the ministry added. Azerbaijan and Armenia have a tenacious hatred for each other, and tensions rose again with the lightning military reconquest of Karabakh by Azerbaijan at the end of September, when the region had been under the control of Azerbaijan for around thirty years. Armenian separatists.
No agreement found between the two countries
Almost the entire population, more than 100,000 people out of the 120,000 officially recorded, fled to Armenia. Yerevan now fears that its neighbor, richer, better armed and supported by Turkey, is seeking to push its advantage. Armenia is particularly afraid that Azerbaijan will be tempted to connect the Nakhchivan enclave to its territory by force by attacking the Armenian south.
Various formats of talks exist between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but so far no agreement has been reached between the two countries. The heads of Armenian, Azerbaijani, Russian, Turkish and Iranian diplomacy are meeting on Monday in Tehran.