The Azerbaijani Land Forces (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri Quru Qoşunları) are the land force component of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.[2][3] Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been trying to create professional, well trained, and mobile armed forces. Based on 2013 statistics, the country has about 56,850 ground force troops, with additional paramilitary forces of 15,000. In addition, there are 300,000 former service personnel who have had military service in the last fifteen years.[1]
In summer 1992, the Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan, following a resolution by the Azerbaijani president on the privatization of units and formations in Azerbaijani territory, forwarded an ultimatum demanding control over vehicles and armaments of the 135th and 139th motorized rifle regiments of the 295th Motor Rifle Division.[4] The transfer of the property of the 4th Army (except for over half the equipment of the 366th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 23rd Division captured by Armenian armed formations in 1992 during the regiment's withdrawal from Stepanakert) and the 49th Arsenal was completed in 1992. Thus, by the end of 1992, the Azerbaijani Government received arms and military hardware sufficient for approximately three motor rifle divisions with prescribed army units. The stores and equipment of the 75th Division were handed over to the Nakhchivan government.[5] The former Division HQs may have contributed to the formation of corps headquarters.
Twenty-first century
Azerbaijan reorganized its army, and has been preparing its armed forces for possible action against Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh. Intermittent fighting continued, most recently breaking out into the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijan has contracted with Turkey for troop training to strengthen its armed forces. This is necessary in view of deficiencies that Jane's World Armies said in 2004 included huge problems in training, equipping and motivating its soldiers; corruption in its ranks; and a highly politicized officer corps.[6] The Soviet Army tradition of dedovshchina, institutionalized hazing, appears to be continuing in the armed forces as of 2008.[7] The quality and readiness of much of the army's equipment, Jane's said, is also a problem, as a decade of poor maintenance and chronic shortages of spare parts means that many systems are not operational, or cannibalised for parts. Azerbaijan has the second-highest military expenditure in CIS. Azerbaijan's defence spending is second only to Russia's within the Commonwealth of Independent States.
[8]
During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani army was widely accused of committing war crimes against Armenian soldiers and civilians.[9]Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both condemned Azerbaijan's "indiscriminate" shelling of Armenian civilians, including the use of cluster munitions.[10][11] In addition, videos of Azerbaijani soldiers mistreating or executing captive Armenians were circulated online and received widespread condemnation.[12][13]
Foreign deployments
In Kosovo, one officer, 1 sergeant and 32 soldiers formed part of the Turkish Army battalion from September 1999. The Azerbaijanis oversaw eighteen settlements in the area. On 26 February 2008, as Kosovo declared its independence, Azerbaijani PresidentIlham Aliyev addressed the National Assembly to call for the withdrawal of Azerbaijani peacekeepers from Kosovo. The address was considered at Assembly session on 4 March 2008 and accepted with eighty seven votes in favor, three against and two abstainations.
On April 15 of the same year the platoon returned to Azerbaijan. About 400 Azerbaijani servicemen were peacekeepers in Kosovo.
Azerbaijani servicemen were deployed to Iraq as part of Combined Joint Task Force 7 in 2003.[citation needed] The peacekeeping unit consisted of 14 officers, 16 sergeants and 120 privates, who secured the hydroelectric power station and reservoir in Haditha from August 2003. One company of Azerbaijani peacekeepers commanded by Captain Nasimi Javadov guarded the area of Haditha Dam, which is one of the principal sources of electricity in Iraq.[14] An Azerbaijani delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of Defence visited the Hadithah Dam at the invitation of the Marine Corps officials.[14]
From 2004 the company became part of the USMC led Multi-National Forces West. Ilham Aliyev's address to recall the Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Iraq was accepted at the plenary session of National Assembly by eighty six votes in favor and one against Four Azerbaijani officers in Iraq (Maj. Huseyn Dashdamirov, Capt. Nasimi Javadov, Capt. Alizamin Karimov and Sr. Lt. Abdulla Abdullayev) have been awarded the US Navy and Marines Corps Achievement Medal.[15][14]
Afghanistan
Azerbaijan sent a platoon to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) consisting of 21 soldiers, one officer and one NCO in November 2002 with the aim of contributing to provision of peace, security and order in Afghanistan.[16]
The Azerbaijani platoon commanded by First Lieutenant Shamil Mammadov performed patrolling duties in the populated district of southern Kabul. On 2 October 2008 the National Assembly passed a decision to send 45 more peacekeepers to Afghanistan.[17] In an interview to Azeri Press Agency Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette said: "As the spokesperson for ISAF on behalf of General McKiernan, the Commander of ISAF, I thank your country, your soldiers, and the families of your soldiers, for their contribution to this vital mission".[18] The number of peacekeepers serving in the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan was raised from 94 to 120 on 9 January 2018,[19] according to the amendment to the Resolution "On giving consent to the deployment and participation in the relevant operations in Afghanistan of a platoon of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan as part of the battalion of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Turkey and under the general command of NATO structures" by the Milli Majlis on 29 December 2017.[20]
Structure
Azerbaijani Land Forces Structure 2007
Opposed by Armenian forces, the Azerbaijani military was forced back out of Nagorno-Karabakh and was significantly reorganised in the mid-1990s predominantly around brigades, though at least one division was reported as late as 2000. Manoeuvre formations have consistently stayed at a strength of around twenty brigades and regiments since 1995, though that has slowly risen recently. During the 1990s, these brigades may have included the 701st Motor Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps), the 708th Motor Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps), 130th Motor Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps), 161st Motor Rifle Brigade (2nd Army Corps), 709th Motor Rifle Brigade (formerly the 23rd Motor Rifle Division), and the 112th Motor Rifle Brigade.
The Land Forces currently consist of five army corps:[21]
3rd Army Corps also known as Shamkir Army Corps (concentrated against Armenian occupied territories), currently led by Lieutenant General Rovshan Akbarov[23][24][25]
The IISS estimated in 2007 that the Azerbaijani regular army was 56,840 strong, probably basing this figure on Conventional Forces in Europe treaty data. It attributes to the army five corps headquarters, 23 motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, one multiple rocket launcher brigade, and one anti-tank regiment.[27] Of the five army corps, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Army Corps are concentrated against NK; part of 2nd is deployed on the Azerbaijan-Iranian border; the 4th covers the capital and the coast and the 5th is deployed exclusively in Nakhchivan.[28][29] Following the 2020 war, and specifically during the Baku Victory Parade, experts noted that a 6th corps was created, in part due to the partial mobilization that occurred in the country during that 44-day period.[30][31]
In addition, the Army maintains the following units:
The service march of the Lane Forces is "Forward" (Marş "İrəli") also known as the "Soldier's Anthem" (Əsgər Marşı). The lyrics are based on that of the Regiment March, which is the official march of the Special Forces Command of Turkey. The lyrics of the march are as follows:[33]
^Tehran IRNA, 9 January 1992, as transcribed in FBIS, Soviet Union Daily Report, 92-007, 10 January 1992, p. 53., via ref in 75 MRD note in 7th Guards Army article.
^Jane's World Armies Azerbaijan, as accessed October 2004.
^"Rövşən Əkbərov Telman oğlu". Ens.az - 4 dildə xəbərlər və ensiklopediya (in Azerbaijani). 16 September 2018. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
^"ƏKBƏROV RÖVŞƏN TELMAN OĞLU". VƏTƏN UĞRUNDA - Hərbi-Vətənpərvərlik Şurasının İnternet Orqanı (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
