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TURKISH WARPLANES FLY IN AZERBAIJAN
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 | Posted by Contributor
Turkish F-16 fighter jets stationed at a military base in Azerbaijan
BAKU--At least a dozen Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships
are carrying out flights in Azerbaijan in the second joint
Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises conducted so far this year.
The F-16 fighter jets, C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and
Super Cobra and Black Hawk helicopters reportedly arrived in Azerbaijan
on Thursday to take part in what the Defense Ministry in Baku called
"large-scale" exercises of its ground forces that ended on Saturday.
A ministry statement released over the weekend claimed that they
involved as many as 30,000 Azerbaijani soldiers, hundreds of tanks
and artillery systems, dozens of military aircraft and helicopters
as well as an unspecified number of Turkish military personnel. It
said they practiced "offensive operations in different conditions,
including in a mountainous terrain."
Official videos of drills indicated a much smaller number of
participating troops and pieces of military hardware, however. The
images also suggest that the Turkish Air Force units have carried
out flights near a military airfield, rather than the scene of the
ground force exercises.
A ministry statement cited by the Trend news agency on Monday said
more than 30 Turkish and Azerbaijani fighter jets, military aircraft
and helicopters are jointly training and "testing possibilities of
coordination in combat operations." It said their joint flights will
continue through October 3.
Photographs released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry showed at
least six Turkish F-16 jets and four Super Cobra choppers parked on
tarmac at an undisclosed location in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Defense
Minister Zakir Hasanov visited the airfield and met with Air Force
personnel at the weekend.
The latest Azerbaijani war games began on September 13 more than a
month after a sharp escalation of deadly fighting along Azerbaijan's
border with Armenia and "the line of contact" around Karabakh.
Ceasefire violations in the Karabakh conflict zone decreased just
as dramatically following an August 10 meeting of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents mediated by their Russian counterpart,
Vladimir Putin.
"We monitor any [Azerbaijani] military exercise and take appropriate
measures. But at this point we are not faced with any extraordinary
threat," Davit Babayan, a spokesman for Karabakh President Bako
Sahakian, told Armenia's GALA television on September 18.
The previous Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises took place near
Turkey's border with Armenia in February. They reportedly involved
more than 1,600 Turkish and about 100 Azerbaijani soldiers. The Turkish
General Staff said at the time that the maneuvers are aimed at boosting
cooperation between "the armed forces of the two fraternal states."
Such drills appear to have become more frequent since the signing
in 2010 of a Turkish-Azerbaijani treaty on "strategic partnership
and mutual assistance." It is not clear, though, whether the treaty
commits the Turkish military to fighting on the Azerbaijani side
in case Baku attempts to forcibly regain control over Karabakh and
territories surrounding it.
During and after the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan, Armenia has sought
to preclude direct Turkish military intervention in the Karabakh
conflict with close defense links with Russia and, in particular,
Russian military presence on its soil. A Russian-Armenian agreement
signed in 2010 upgraded the security mission of a Russian army base
headquartered in Gyumri, an Armenian city close to the Turkish border,
The base has been reinforced with more modern weaponry in recent
years. Over the past year Moscow has also modernized some 16 MiG-29
fighter jets stationed in Yerevan. In addition, it plans to deploy
about two dozen combat helicopters there by the end of this year.
More than 1,500 Russian and Armenian troops held annual joint exercises
in central Armenia earlier this month.
http://asbarez.com/127210/turkish-warplanes-fly-in-azerbaijan/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014 | Posted by Contributor
Turkish F-16 fighter jets stationed at a military base in Azerbaijan
BAKU--At least a dozen Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships
are carrying out flights in Azerbaijan in the second joint
Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises conducted so far this year.
The F-16 fighter jets, C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and
Super Cobra and Black Hawk helicopters reportedly arrived in Azerbaijan
on Thursday to take part in what the Defense Ministry in Baku called
"large-scale" exercises of its ground forces that ended on Saturday.
A ministry statement released over the weekend claimed that they
involved as many as 30,000 Azerbaijani soldiers, hundreds of tanks
and artillery systems, dozens of military aircraft and helicopters
as well as an unspecified number of Turkish military personnel. It
said they practiced "offensive operations in different conditions,
including in a mountainous terrain."
Official videos of drills indicated a much smaller number of
participating troops and pieces of military hardware, however. The
images also suggest that the Turkish Air Force units have carried
out flights near a military airfield, rather than the scene of the
ground force exercises.
A ministry statement cited by the Trend news agency on Monday said
more than 30 Turkish and Azerbaijani fighter jets, military aircraft
and helicopters are jointly training and "testing possibilities of
coordination in combat operations." It said their joint flights will
continue through October 3.
Photographs released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry showed at
least six Turkish F-16 jets and four Super Cobra choppers parked on
tarmac at an undisclosed location in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Defense
Minister Zakir Hasanov visited the airfield and met with Air Force
personnel at the weekend.
The latest Azerbaijani war games began on September 13 more than a
month after a sharp escalation of deadly fighting along Azerbaijan's
border with Armenia and "the line of contact" around Karabakh.
Ceasefire violations in the Karabakh conflict zone decreased just
as dramatically following an August 10 meeting of the Armenian
and Azerbaijani presidents mediated by their Russian counterpart,
Vladimir Putin.
"We monitor any [Azerbaijani] military exercise and take appropriate
measures. But at this point we are not faced with any extraordinary
threat," Davit Babayan, a spokesman for Karabakh President Bako
Sahakian, told Armenia's GALA television on September 18.
The previous Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises took place near
Turkey's border with Armenia in February. They reportedly involved
more than 1,600 Turkish and about 100 Azerbaijani soldiers. The Turkish
General Staff said at the time that the maneuvers are aimed at boosting
cooperation between "the armed forces of the two fraternal states."
Such drills appear to have become more frequent since the signing
in 2010 of a Turkish-Azerbaijani treaty on "strategic partnership
and mutual assistance." It is not clear, though, whether the treaty
commits the Turkish military to fighting on the Azerbaijani side
in case Baku attempts to forcibly regain control over Karabakh and
territories surrounding it.
During and after the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan, Armenia has sought
to preclude direct Turkish military intervention in the Karabakh
conflict with close defense links with Russia and, in particular,
Russian military presence on its soil. A Russian-Armenian agreement
signed in 2010 upgraded the security mission of a Russian army base
headquartered in Gyumri, an Armenian city close to the Turkish border,
The base has been reinforced with more modern weaponry in recent
years. Over the past year Moscow has also modernized some 16 MiG-29
fighter jets stationed in Yerevan. In addition, it plans to deploy
about two dozen combat helicopters there by the end of this year.
More than 1,500 Russian and Armenian troops held annual joint exercises
in central Armenia earlier this month.
http://asbarez.com/127210/turkish-warplanes-fly-in-azerbaijan/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress