Three Brothers-2021" Military Exercises By Mehmood Ul Hassan
Mehmood Ul Hassan
According to Azerbaijan’s
Ministry of Defence (September 11, 2021) “Three Brothers-2021" military
exercises will be started for the first time in Baku tomorrow in which military units of three brotherly countries
Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey having strategic partnerships will participate.
It has great prospects showing the successful development of the close ties in
the field of defense among three countries.
The main objective of the joint
exercises is to improve the professional preparedness and tactical readiness of
the Special Forces Units (SFUs) of brotherly countries during numerous combat
operations, prepare for operations in peacetime and wartime, exchange knowledge
and experience.
It has also regional as well as
trans-regional signaling and gestures because rapidly changing geo-political
and geo-strategic scenarios demand a close liaison among Azerbaijan, Pakistan
and Turkey to deter any external aggression or attack. It will definitely
further strengthen their deterrence capabilities. It will further explore
different avenues of joint ventures in terms of military training, education,
research and of course production in the days to come. After its successful
completion the regional as well as trans-regional war theater will be further
modified and tilled in favour of Azerbaijan.
It is indeed continuation of
famous “Shusha Declaration “SD”, highlighting close liaison in terms of
economy, culture, education, and parliamentary cooperation and last but not
least in the fields of defense and security. It will hopefully further
strengthen bilateral and trilateral military cooperation among three countries.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry
termed it important and first step to improve the combat interoperability of
the Special Forces from the three countries, to "prepare for operations in
peacetime and wartime," and to exchange "knowledge and experience.
The nine-day exercise is due to begin on September 12.
In this context, earlier this
year, troops from Turkey and Azerbaijan held joint military drills in Baku.
It hopes that the “Three
Brothers-2021” International Exercises will play important role to create a
favorable environment for the exchange of knowledge and experience, as well as
for the training of the servicemen of friendly and partner countries for
operations in peacetime and wartime.
In July 2021, the speakers of the
parliaments of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Baku Declaration following
the first of its kind.
In September 2020, Armenian
forces launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces in the 44 days long
war during which Azerbaijan merged as victor and long conflict ended in an
agreement on November 10.
During the war Azerbaijan’s
better military preparedness, tactical and professional superiority, use of
innovative and advanced technologies of warfare, effective and ideal
combination of human as well as artificial intelligence mechanism and last but
not least, “visionary leadership” of Ilham Aliyev ultimately achieved a
“miracle” in the second war for the liberation of illegally occupied areas of
Nagorno-Karabakh from fascist Armenia.
Furthermore, outstanding military
formations of Azerbaijan armed forces drastically changed the concept of “war
threat” history and moreover, excellent diplomatic maneuverings of incumbent
president HE Ilham Aliyev regionally and globally left no options for Armenia
and its supporters to accept defeat and leave the illegally occupied areas.
In this connection, Azerbaijan
liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages in Karabakh
from a nearly three decade occupation.
Turkey and Azerbaijan enjoy
strong relations, as the two countries embrace the "one nation, two
states" motto. During his presidency, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has
visited Azerbaijan more than 20 times, while the number of delegation visits
has reached more than 100.
Holding of “Three Brothers-2021”
military exercises is a good omen for the further strengthening of trilateral
strategic dialogue/partnership and military cooperation among Pakistan,
Azerbaijan and Turkey which will hopefully change the basic dynamics,
directions and development concepts of the region in the days to come.
In the past, series of bilateral
and trilateral military drills among Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey signaled
the emergence of new defense partnership in the region. It will actually
further strengthen bilateral and trilateral defense cooperation in terms of
joint exercise, production, technical education and tactical preparedness.
Especially, after the visit of
Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to Baku the prospects of
further strengthening of bilateral relations between Pakistan and Azerbaijan
have been further brightened in terms of military cooperation.
On its part, Pakistan has been
assisting Azerbaijan in terms of military, naval and air force training in
Pakistan. Both the countries have been in serious negotiations for the sale of
JF-17 Thunder with Azerbaijan which is now at advance stage. Both countries
have been extending their expertise in modern warfare which proved terminal in
the 2nd War of Karbakah.
Pakistan Chiefs of Air Forces,
Naval and General Nadeem Raz paid personal visit to Baku and extended their
experiences and expertise for the befitting propositions of resettlement,
redevelopment, reinvestments, and reconstruction of all the newly liberated
areas of Karabakh Region.
Even Azerbaijan Naval Commander
visited Pakistan and met with Naval and armed Forces chiefs and discussed
matters of mutual interest pertaining to regional peace and stability which has
now further strengthened scope, domain and prospects of air force and naval
cooperation between two the two countries.
Director General of FWO also paid
visit to Baku and explored various avenues of mutual cooperation in
infrastructural projects, cleaning of deadly landmines and prospective
cooperation in gold mining.
In the past, Pakistan and
Azerbaijan signed the “Bilateral Military Cooperation Agreement” which
consequently geared up military cooperation between two countries.
Azerbaijan and Pakistan hold
relatively similar weaponry and military vehicle systems which would be common
bench mark to proceed further. It is suggested that proposed military
cooperation may also include regular military exercises between the comparable
services of both armed forces. Exchange of valuable strategic information as
well as common approaches towards the territorial armed conflict postures can
be a natural extension in improving bilateral relations in defence.
Being prominent regional expert
of Azerbaijan & South Caucasus I highly rate the holding of “Three
Brothers-2021” Military Exercises and term it historic, positive and
productive. It has numerous geopolitical and geostrategic benefits for
Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey. The rapidly changing trends in the region
encourage close ties in terms of economy, trade & commerce and of course
military cooperation.
History and evolution of human civilization reveals that strong defense is the real guarantor of national pride and territorial sovereignty. Thus Three Brothers-2021 Military Exercise is a right step towards right direction.
This article was written by Dr. Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan, a professional researcher and expert on the region studies, especially the Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Eastern Asia.
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COURTESY ednews
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