Military experts treat Azerbaijani and Turkish exercises as related to Karabakh

The announced February 2021 military exercises of Azerbaijan and Turkey evidence their readiness for a joint response in case of revenge from Armenia and Karabakh, analysts believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that during the last autumn's aggravation of the Karabakh conflict, Turkey had repeatedly declared its readiness to help Azerbaijan. On December 10, 2020, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, arrived in Baku for a parade in honour of the end of hostilities.

For Azerbaijani militaries, the value of the exercises with Turkey lies in borrowing their Turkish colleagues' experience, since the Turkish Army is one of the strongest among the NATO members, Shakhin Gadjiev, an observer for the "Turan" News Agency, has explained.

He believes that the fact of military exercises to be held in Kars, near the border with Armenia, whose authorities threaten Azerbaijan with revenge for the defeat in the 44-day war, serves as a message to Yerevan about the futility of possible military adventures.

Togrul Djuvarly, a member of the Azerbaijani Committee for European Integration, has rejected the directivity of the exercises against Russia. He has treated the version that in the event of an increase of protests in Russia, Turkey will launch military operations against Armenia as untenable.

In his turn, Alexander Perendjiev, an analyst, has noted that the conditions in which the exercises are held testify to the mastering of offensive actions in mountainous terrains.

Turkey and Azerbaijan have announced military exercises near the border with Armenia amid massive protests in Russia in support of Navalny, the author of a blog run on the "Caucasian Knot" has stated.