The Armed Forces of Türkiye and Azerbaijan have teamed up for joint navy drills alongside the latter’s southern border with Iran.
The workouts, codenamed “Fraternal Fist”, kicked off on Monday within the capital Baku, Astara, Jabrayil, and Imishli areas. The items of the Land Forces, Air Power, Special Forces, Engineering Troops, Rocket and Artillery Troops of the Azerbaijani Army and the servicemen of the Turkish Armed Forces participated within the navy drills, whereas the Turkish Air Power’s F16 fighter jets had been additionally reportedly deployed.
In the course of the drills, the troops carried out varied workouts and fight duties consistent with trendy fight strategies, reminiscent of deploying artillery, organizing interoperability, constructing pontoon bridges and touchdown paratroopers into the depths of an imaginary enemy.
Nighttime drills noticed the troops destroying tools and manpower of the mock enemy in direct contact operations.
The final word objective of the two-day workouts was to make sure fight coordination through the interoperability of troops, enhance management, share expertise and improve the professionalism of navy personnel.
Turkish Nationwide Protection Minister, Army Basic Hulusi Akar arrived in Azerbaijan for the event. He met with President Ilham Aliyev and his counterpart Colonel-Basic Zakir Hasanov on Monday. On Tuesday, each ministers watched the joint workouts.
On Tuesday, President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan by way of a phone name congratulated the collaborating troops for efficiently finishing the workouts.
Azerbaijani President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev emphasised that the “Fraternal Fist” workouts are one other manifestation of the Turkish-Azerbaijani unity and burdened that this unity is indestructible and everlasting.
In the meantime, earlier in October, the Armed Forces of Iran carried out large drills alongside the Araz River on the border with Azerbaijan. The Iranian Overseas Ministry stated these drills had been a part of periodic workouts to strengthen the Islamic nation’s borders and never directed towards neighboring international locations, together with Azerbaijan.
Nevertheless, the introduction of the drills on the Iranian media despatched an open warning to Azerbaijan. In a video demonstration of the conflict video games on the Iranian TV channels, Israel was strictly warned and Azerbaijan was referred to as to “know and perceive” that that is Iran, the “land of lions”.
Following Azerbaijan’s liberation of its lands from decades-long Armenian occupation in 2020, Iranian authorities took fast measures to fortify its northern borders. Tehran’s authorities has even blamed Azerbaijan for “bringing Israel” into the area, whereas Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has reportedly stated that “Zionist teams used some areas of Azerbaijan to method the border with Iran”.
The claims by Tehran had been adamantly denied by the Azerbaijani authorities. Throughout his go to to the liberated Jabrayil area in October 2021, President Ilham Aliyev stated the baseless accusations of Iran towards Azerbaijan had been unacceptable and Baku wouldn’t depart them unanswered.
“Regrettably, some authorities officers began making unfounded accusations towards us – Azerbaijan has allegedly introduced Israel to those areas. Allow them to open their eyes large and have a look. The place did they see Israel right here? Not a single particular person lives right here. There isn’t any constructing right here. Is there proof? No,” President Aliyev stated, including if there isn’t any proof, everybody ought to be held accountable for what they are saying.
In October 2021, Iran carried out large-scale drills on the border with Azerbaijan. President Aliyev stated that every nation has a proper to carry workouts, however famous that he was shocked by Tehran’s transfer to host navy drills after Azerbaijan liberated its territories on the border with Iran from Armenian occupation.
“In the course of the occupation, Iranian navy forces by no means carried out navy workouts within the space bordering the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. They may do it. 132 kilometers of the Azerbaijani border had been occupied, and that is the border between Azerbaijan and Iran. Why did not they conduct navy coaching on that border?” he stated.
Armenia and Azerbaijan had been in an armed battle for almost 30 years over the Karabakh area, which is an internationally acknowledged territory of Azerbaijan. Armenia launched full-blown navy aggression towards Azerbaijan following the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991. The bloody conflict lasted till a ceasefire in 1994 and noticed Armenia occupying 20 p.c of Azerbaijan’s internationally acknowledged territories. Over 30,000 Azerbaijanis had been killed, and a million had been expelled from these lands in a brutal ethnic cleaning coverage carried out by Armenia. Though the United Nations Safety Council adopted 4 resolutions in 1993 demanding the fast withdrawal of the occupying forces from Azerbaijani lands and the return of internally displaced Azerbaijanis to their ancestral lands, Armenia didn’t adjust to all 4 legally binding paperwork.
On September 27, 2020, the decades-old battle took a violent flip after Armenia’s forces deployed within the occupied Azerbaijani lands shelled navy positions and civilian settlements of Azerbaijan. In the course of the counter-attack operations that lasted 44 days, Azerbaijani forces liberated about 300 settlements, together with the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha, from almost 30-year-long unlawful Armenian occupation. The conflict resulted in a tripartite assertion signed on November 10 by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. Underneath the assertion, Armenia additionally returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.
