Baku: Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said on Monday it had begun joint drills with its ally Turkiye near the border with Armenia, weeks after Baku recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian separatists.
Azerbaijan last month took control of the long-disputed region in a 24-hour offensive that ended decades of Armenian separatist rule.
The ministry said “up to 3,000” troops would take part in the tactical drills held in the capital Baku, the Nakhichevan exclave between Iran and Armenia, as well as territories retaken from Armenian separatists.
The exercises — dubbed “Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 2023” — involve dozens of artillery weapons and aviation.
Baku said they were aimed at “ensuring combat interoperability” between the allies.
Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated enclave of Karabakh was at the centre of two wars between the Caucasus arch-foe neighbours — in 2020 and in the 1990s.
On September 19, Azerbaijan launched a lightning offensive against Armenian separatist forces.
After less than a day of fighting, separatist authorities agreed to lay down arms and reintegrate with Azerbaijan.