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WHAT'S BEHIND THE PURGES IN AZERBAIJAN'S MILITARY?
EurasiaNet.org
March 18 2014
March 18, 2014 - 1:48pm, by Joshua Kucera
The new leadership in Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense has been
undertaking a thorough housecleaning of the ministry in the months
since the new minister, Zakir Hasanov, took over.
Earlier this month, it was reported that several senior officers were
"sent to reserve," meaning they were removed from active duty service.
Among those number were former Defense Minister Safar Abiyev and at
least seven other high-ranking officers. Jasur Mammadov Sumerinli,
a Baku-based defense analyst, told The Bug Pit that the way this
usually works is that because many high-ranking officers formally
serve only in a temporary capacity, they are not formally fired. In
the case of these several generals, they were all removed from their
posts in November and December 2013, and just now moved to the reserve.
Separately, President Ilham Aliyev dismissed the commander of
Azerbaijan's navy, Vice Admiral Shahin Sultanov and replaced him with
Captain 1st Rank Yunus Mammadov, who had been serving as Chief of
Naval Operations. (Not long before, interestingly, there were media
reports that Sultanov had been arrested, though the MoD denied them)
And on a visit to the exclave of Nakhcivan in January, Hasanov made
a number of personnel changes to the armed forces units there, and
reporting about those changes apparently annoyed the Ministry of
Defense. "Replacements are being carried out in accordance with the
requirements of Regulation 'On military service' and aimed at increase
of the efficiency of service," the ministry said in a statement. "The
Defense Ministry recommends people and media representatives to be more
sensitive in protecting state secrets while disseminating information
about reforms, structural changes, appointments, replacements and
promotions carried out in the Armed Forces."
The changes are mostly connected with an internal power struggle,
Sumerinli said: most of the dismissed generals were close to Abiyev.
The other power center within the ministry is led by Najmaddin Sadigov,
the chief of general staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
"These two groups were constantly in conflict," Sumerinli said.
Sadigov remains in his position and to reduce conflict, Hasanov is
removing Abiyev's men, he said.
Emil Sanamyan, a U.S.-based editor of the newspaper Armenian Reporter
who follows defense developments in Baku closely, agreed with
Sumerinli's take on the power struggle. He also pointed to another
power struggle within the security forces, that overall control of
the military is, he says, in the hands of the chief of the KGB Vahid
Aliyev and police general and presidential security adviser Maherram
Aliyev. Sanamyan notes that Vahid Aliyev's former deputy was recently
appointed as the chief of the air force. "So Hassanov is more of a
figurehead than even Abiyev was."
Another factor in the new appointments could be an effort to root
out corruption, Sumerinli said, noting that some media reports have
focused on that angle. But he said that there was no reason to believe
that the Sadigov-associated generals were any less corrupt than the
Abiyev allies.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68163
EurasiaNet.org
March 18 2014
March 18, 2014 - 1:48pm, by Joshua Kucera
The new leadership in Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense has been
undertaking a thorough housecleaning of the ministry in the months
since the new minister, Zakir Hasanov, took over.
Earlier this month, it was reported that several senior officers were
"sent to reserve," meaning they were removed from active duty service.
Among those number were former Defense Minister Safar Abiyev and at
least seven other high-ranking officers. Jasur Mammadov Sumerinli,
a Baku-based defense analyst, told The Bug Pit that the way this
usually works is that because many high-ranking officers formally
serve only in a temporary capacity, they are not formally fired. In
the case of these several generals, they were all removed from their
posts in November and December 2013, and just now moved to the reserve.
Separately, President Ilham Aliyev dismissed the commander of
Azerbaijan's navy, Vice Admiral Shahin Sultanov and replaced him with
Captain 1st Rank Yunus Mammadov, who had been serving as Chief of
Naval Operations. (Not long before, interestingly, there were media
reports that Sultanov had been arrested, though the MoD denied them)
And on a visit to the exclave of Nakhcivan in January, Hasanov made
a number of personnel changes to the armed forces units there, and
reporting about those changes apparently annoyed the Ministry of
Defense. "Replacements are being carried out in accordance with the
requirements of Regulation 'On military service' and aimed at increase
of the efficiency of service," the ministry said in a statement. "The
Defense Ministry recommends people and media representatives to be more
sensitive in protecting state secrets while disseminating information
about reforms, structural changes, appointments, replacements and
promotions carried out in the Armed Forces."
The changes are mostly connected with an internal power struggle,
Sumerinli said: most of the dismissed generals were close to Abiyev.
The other power center within the ministry is led by Najmaddin Sadigov,
the chief of general staff of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
"These two groups were constantly in conflict," Sumerinli said.
Sadigov remains in his position and to reduce conflict, Hasanov is
removing Abiyev's men, he said.
Emil Sanamyan, a U.S.-based editor of the newspaper Armenian Reporter
who follows defense developments in Baku closely, agreed with
Sumerinli's take on the power struggle. He also pointed to another
power struggle within the security forces, that overall control of
the military is, he says, in the hands of the chief of the KGB Vahid
Aliyev and police general and presidential security adviser Maherram
Aliyev. Sanamyan notes that Vahid Aliyev's former deputy was recently
appointed as the chief of the air force. "So Hassanov is more of a
figurehead than even Abiyev was."
Another factor in the new appointments could be an effort to root
out corruption, Sumerinli said, noting that some media reports have
focused on that angle. But he said that there was no reason to believe
that the Sadigov-associated generals were any less corrupt than the
Abiyev allies.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68163