CDSI notes high non-combat losses in Azerbaijani Army

The number of non-combat losses in the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan remains high; and information about them is silenced, experts told the "Caucasian Knot".

At least 37 Azerbaijani servicemen perished in 2018; among them only six people make combat losses, says the report of the CDSI (Caspian Defence Studies Institute) released on January 3.

"Despite the fact that statistics shows a sharp decrease in losses compared to 2017, in reality the number of victims may be higher than indicated in our report," Djasur Sumerinli, Director of the CDSI, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in his comment to the report.

He drew attention to a large number of non-combat losses, calling it "shocking" under the conditions of the ceasefire regime. "Nobody of those in power takes responsibility for such a large number of non-combat losses. They make use of their loyal media to form an opinion that such a large number of soldiers' deaths is a 'natural phenomenon', but this is a very erroneous statement, since soldiers should not die outside combat actions," the expert has emphasized.

Mr Sumerinli has noted that the army still remains "practically closed to the society." "Neither the press nor the public may discuss army problems; and every year the situation becomes more and more complicated. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) often fails to react to reports in the media and social networks about deaths in the army; and it is possible that in some cases the losses are concealed," he has added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 4, 2019 at 05:04 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.