BBC/azeri
Ilkin Hasanov
BBC News in Azerbaijani, Baku
9 November 2021
According to AzerTaj, Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov said at a press conference with the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Turkey, General Hulusi Akar, that there are big plans for the future.
According to him, many servicemen of the commando brigades continue their service in the most important units after training in Turkey and returning to Azerbaijan.
“Most of the personnel of the Azerbaijani army were trained in the Turkish training center. Our nation, religion, language and culture are one. We took advantage of this opportunity and skillfully benefited from the experience of the Turkish Armed Forces, and we continue to do so,” Hasanov said.
Mr. Hasanov said that after the war, on the instructions of the President, analyzing the results of the war, organizational measures were again taken in the Azerbaijani army.
The Minister said that currently the Azerbaijani army is organized in accordance with the model of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Military analyst Uzeyir Jafarov told BBC News in Azerbaijani that when the minister said the new body, he was in fact talking about the creation of new mountain commando military units.
Uzeyir Jafarov said that those serving in the new military units were trained in Turkey and have already started operating in Azerbaijan.
Recently, the Defense Minister visited those new military units established in the liberated areas. These new military units are military units that can serve in those areas in accordance with the relief, “Colonel Jafarov said.
According to him, the trained servicemen were soldiers and officers who could move and serve in the most difficult mountain conditions, water and ravines.
“There will be more servicemen and junior commanders. They will be purely professionals. This is a novelty, the Turkish army has had it for a long time. Our army had only one mountain unit, and now we are increasing the number of such units,” he said. – Uzeyir Jafarov said.
The analyst also said that new engineering and fortification units had been set up in the liberated areas to clear mines.
He considers these two new military units to be “new structures” in the Azerbaijani army.
On October 19, Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov visited the newly established operational (commando) military unit. According to the Defense Ministry, the Minister presented berets (hats) to the personnel who passed a long-term “Commando Training Course” in Turkey in that military unit.
In October last year, President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with the Turkish TRT channel that Azerbaijan was building a smaller model of the Turkish Army.