Azerbaijani Land Force

The Azerbaijani Land Force (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri Quru Qoşunları) is the army of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces which is the military of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri Quru Qoşunları
Azerbaijani Land Force
Azerbaijani Land Forces badge.svg
The Flag of the Azerbaijani Land Forces
ActiveOctober 9, 1991 - present
Country Azerbaijan
BranchArmy
TypeMilitary
RoleGround (land) warfare
Size56,840 ground force (land) troops
15,000 paramilitary troops
Garrison/HQBaku
Anniversaries1918 (first founding); October 9, 1991 (second founding)
EngagementsNagorno-Karabakh War; peacekeeping roles in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan
Commanders
Notable
commanders
-Samad bey Mehmandarov
-Ali-Agha Shikhlinski
-Mamedbey Sulkevich
-Abdulhamid bey Gaitabashi

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has been trying to further develop its armed forces into a professional, well trained, and mobile military. Based on 2007 statistics the country has about 56,840 ground force (land) troops, and a paramilitary force of 15,000 troops. There are 300,000 former service personnel who have had military service in the last fifteen years.[1]

In wartime, the Army proper could call the support of the paramilitary Azerbaijani National Guard, the Internal Troops of Azerbaijan, and the State Border Service of Azerbaijan (who patrol Azerbaijan's borders with Georgia, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Armenia), which can be involved in state defense. The exact wartime command structure is unknown.

Azerbaijan has also sent soldiers to be trained in Turkey, Russia and Israel over the past years, and these countries also sell weapons to Azerbaijan, among many countries. Since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan has made the army boost the defense of the country and possibly retake its separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh from neighboring enemy Armenia which invaded it, but is legally a part of Azerbaijan.

Related pages

References

  1. IISS (2007). The Military Balance 2007. London: Routledge for the IISS. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-85743-437-8.

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