Will Turkey establish a military base in Azerbaijan?

Daily Sabah


By Basel Haj Jasem
Aug 21, 2020

The political and media circles in the former Soviet countries
continually discuss the issue of establishing a Turkish military base
in the Republic of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. The discussion of
the Turkish military presence in Azerbaijan is always linked to the
coldness or warmth of relations between Moscow and Ankara, especially
when the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict flares up.

Russia is Turkey's biggest competitor in the region. If we take into
account Turkey’s membership in NATO, the establishment of a Turkish
military base in Azerbaijan to ensure military and political balance
would create a counterweight to the Russian military base in Armenia.
When a Turkish military base is established, it directly complicates
the bilateral relations of Russia and Azerbaijan and would also become
a source of concern to Iran.

The bilateral defense cooperation between Turkey and Azerbaijan
defines two legal frameworks. The first one, which was established in
the early 1990s, enables military training for Azerbaijani personnel
in Turkish military institutions. The second framework is the
"strategic partnership" agreement, which explicitly states that the
two countries will help each other if one of them demanded its right
to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
Although the nature of this "assistance" was subject to bilateral
consultations, the agreement clearly affirmed the possibility of using
military means in emergency circumstances.

On Aug. 13, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Turkish
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Chief of Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler,
commanders of the Turkish land, air and naval forces, and other
members of the high-level Turkish military delegation in Azerbaijan.

On the visit, both sides attended part of a large-scale
Turkish-Azerbaijani joint military maneuver in the Azerbaijani regions
of Baku, Nakhchivan, Kajah, Kordimer and Yulakh. Those exercises began
on July 29 and continued until mid-August.

In mid-July, a high-level Azerbaijani military delegation had visited
Turkey and met with the Turkish defense minister and most of the
military leaders in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

According to Azerbaijani media, very important documents were prepared
between Baku and Ankara, as the two sides discussed the issue of
establishing a Turkish military base in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan's
exclave bordering Turkey.

The Azerbaijani news site Menfal said that if relations between
Azerbaijan and Turkey are not yet able to move toward a deep alliance
due to the absence of certain legal steps, the current documents will
raise the level of the alliance between the two parties to the highest
level. As a result, the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan will
become very close and will not only include military cooperation but
also political cooperation.

Azerbaijani political expert Gabel Husayn Ali said that during the
return visit of the high Turkish military delegation, issues of
establishing a Turkish military base in Nakhchivan (likely to have
reached a joint conclusion), and of establishing another military base
in Absheron Peninsula were discussed in detail.

In light of the close cooperation between Armenia and Iran, Armenians
fear this scenario. Tehran’s relations with Yerevan are stronger than
those with many neighboring Muslim countries. There is a concern in
Armenia about the possibility of Turkey’s participation in the
negotiation process over the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
region.

Ankara declares its position clearly by fully standing by its
"brother" Azerbaijan to regain its "occupied lands," where the two
republics, Azerbaijan and Armenia, have been witnessing a conflict
since the last century, over the Azerbaijani territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which is an Azerbaijani enclave occupied by an
Armenian majority.

In 1993, after five years of war, the Armenians controlled areas
within the territory of Azerbaijan, located between Nagorno-Karabakh
and Armenia, with an area of about 8,000 square kilometers (3,088
square miles), or about 20% of the area of Azerbaijan.

Whether Turkey will establish a base in Azerbaijan or not, it should
be noted that, even a few years ago, Turkey did not have military
bases outside its territory, except for its military presence in the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1974, and today Turkey
has military bases in Somalia, Qatar, Iraq and Syria.