Azerbaijan enlists Turkish general to improve its military
By Vusal Gozelov, Cihan News Agency, Baku
Monday, January 08, 2007
zaman.com

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Azerbaijan has launched a project to elevate its military to NATO
standards and is planning to take important steps in 2007 to
accomplish this goal.

The administration in Baku is reportedly planning to appoint a Turkish
general as its deputy defense minister. According to the news reports
that appeared in the Azeri press, a Turkish general, appointed by the
Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), will assume the post in mid-2007.

A news story published by Ayna, a daily paper in Azerbaijan, wrote
that Baku will grant the Turkish general significant authority and
permit him to work with his team from Turkey. The partnership is
planned to continue until 2011, during which time a few Turkish
generals to be selected by the Turkish Armed Forces will consecutively
occupy the post.

The newspaper also wrote that Azeri and Turkish military officials
had been discussing the subject for some time and that it would be
taken up during the visit of Gen. Ilker Basbug, commander-in-chief of
the Turkish Ground Forces, to Azerbaijan in January. Ayna assumes that
the identity of the deputy defense minister will emerge within few
months following this meeting.

Azerbaijan will model this system on a project implemented by
Lithuania in 2002, when the country appointed a retired American
colonel, Ionas Kronkaytis, as chief of staff upon recommendation from
NATO and U.S. military authorities. Kronkaytis reformed the Lithuanian
army in 2003 according to NATO standards, which resulted in the
country joining the alliance.