| Azerbaijan Land Forces | |
|---|---|
| Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri Quru Qoşunları | |
 Badge of the Azerbaijan Land Forces | |
| Founded |
|
| Country | Azerbaijan |
| Branch | Land Forces |
| Size | IISS 2025: 110,000[1] |
| Part of | Azerbaijan Armed Forces |
| Headquarters | Baku |
| March | "Forward" (Marş "İrəli") |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| President and Commander-in-Chief | Ilham Aliyev |
| Minister of Defence | Colonel generalZakir Hasanov |
| Commander of the Azerbaijani Land Forces | Colonel generalHikmat Mirzayev |
| Insignia | |
| Flag of the Azerbaijani Land Forces |  |
TheAzerbaijani Land Forces (Azerbaijani:Azərbaycan Silahlı Qüvvələri Quru Qoşunları) are the land force component of theAzerbaijani Armed Forces.[2][3] Since the fall of theSoviet Union, Azerbaijan has been trying to create professional, well trained, and mobile armed forces. Based on 2013 statistics, the country has about 85,000 ground force troops, with additional paramilitary forces of 15,000. In addition, there are 300,000 former service personnel who have had military service in the last fifteen years.[1]
Reportedly, in wartime, the Army proper could call upon the support of theNational Guard, theInternal Troops of Azerbaijan, and theState Border Service. The exact wartime command structure remains unclear.
During the Soviet period, Azerbaijan was part of theTranscaucasus Military District, whose forces in the republic were commanded by the4th Army. The4th Army consisted of three motor rifle divisions (the23rd Guards Motor Rifle Division (MRD) atGanja, the60th Motor Rifle Division atLankaran, and the295th Motor Rifle Division inBaku), plus army troops that included missile and air defence brigades and artillery and rocket regiments. Azerbaijan also hosted the 49th Arsenal of theMain Missile and Artillery Directorate, which contained over 7,000 train-car loads of ammunition holding in excess of one billion units of ammunition and stores. In addition, the75th Motor Rifle Division, part of the7th Guards Army, was in theNakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
In summer 1992, the Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan, following a resolution by the Azerbaijani president on the privatization of units and formations in Azerbaijani territory, forwarded an ultimatum demanding control over vehicles and armaments of the 135th and 139th motorized rifle regiments of the 295th Motor Rifle Division.[4] The transfer of the property of the 4th Army (except for over half the equipment of the366th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the 23rd Division captured by Armenian armed formations in 1992 during the regiment's withdrawal fromStepanakert) and the 49th Arsenal was completed in 1992. Thus, by the end of 1992, the Azerbaijani Government received arms and military hardware sufficient for approximately three motor rifle divisions with prescribed army units. The stores and equipment of the 75th Division were handed over to the Nakhchivan government.[5] The former Division HQs may have contributed to the formation of corps headquarters.
Azerbaijan reorganized its army, and has been preparing its armed forces for possible action against Armenian forces inNagorno-Karabakh. Intermittent fighting continued, most recently breaking out into the2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijan has contracted with Turkey for troop training to strengthen its armed forces. This is necessary in view of deficiencies that Jane's World Armies said in 2004 included huge problems in training, equipping and motivating its soldiers; corruption in its ranks; and a highly politicized officer corps.[6] TheSoviet Army tradition ofdedovshchina, institutionalized hazing, appeared to be continuing in the armed forces as of 2008.[7] The quality and readiness of much of the army's equipment, Jane's said, is also a problem, as a decade of poor maintenance and chronic shortages of spare parts meant that many systems were not operational, or cannibalised for parts. Azerbaijan has the second-highest military expenditure in CIS. Azerbaijan's defence spending is second only to Russia's within the Commonwealth of Independent States.[8]
During the2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani army was widely accused of committing war crimes against Armenian soldiers and civilians.[9]Human Rights Watch andAmnesty International both condemned Azerbaijan's "indiscriminate" shelling of Armenian civilians, including the use ofcluster munitions.[10][11] In addition, videos of Azerbaijani soldiers mistreating or executing captive Armenians were circulated online and received widespread condemnation.[12][13]
One officer, 1 sergeant and 32 soldiers formed part of theTurkish Army battalion deployed as part of theKosovo Force from September 1999. The Azerbaijanis oversaw eighteen settlements. On 26 February 2008, as Kosovodeclared its independence,Azerbaijani PresidentIlham Aliyev addressed theNational Assembly to call for the withdrawal of Azerbaijani peacekeepers from Kosovo. Within ten days the address was accepted. On April 15 of the same year theplatoon returned to Azerbaijan. About 400 Azerbaijani servicemen were peacekeepers in Kosovo.
Azerbaijani servicemen were deployed to Iraq as part ofCombined Joint Task Force 7 in 2003.[citation needed] The peacekeeping unit consisted of 14 officers, 16 sergeants and 120 privates, who secured thehydroelectric power station and reservoir inHaditha from August 2003. One company of Azerbaijani peacekeepers commanded by Captain Nasimi Javadov guarded the area ofHaditha Dam, which is one of the principal sources of electricity in Iraq.[14] An Azerbaijani delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of Defence visited the Hadithah Dam at the invitation of the Marine Corps officials.[14]
From 2004 the company became part of the USMC ledMulti-National Forces West. Ilham Aliyev's address to recall the Azerbaijani peacekeepers in Iraq was accepted at theplenary session of National Assembly by eighty six votes in favor and one against Four Azerbaijani officers in Iraq (Maj. Huseyn Dashdamirov, Capt. Nasimi Javadov, Capt. Alizamin Karimov and Sr. Lt. Abdulla Abdullayev) have been awarded the US Navy and Marines CorpsAchievement Medal.[15][14]
Azerbaijan sent a platoon of 21 soldiers, one officer, First Lieutenant Shamil Mammadov, and oneNCO to theInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan in November 2002 to contribute to peace, security and order.[16] The platoon performed patrolling duties in southernKabul. On 2 October 2008 the National Assembly passed a decision to send 45 more peacekeepers to Afghanistan.[17] In an interview with theAzeri Press Agency Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette gave ISAF's thanks for Azerbaijan's contribution.[18] The number of peacekeepers serving in theResolute Support mission inAfghanistan was raised from 94 to 120 on 9 January 2018.[19] according to an amendment by theMilli Majlis on 29 December 2017.[20]
Opposed by Armenian forces, the Azerbaijani military was forced back out of Nagorno-Karabakh and was significantly reorganised in the mid-1990s predominantly around brigades, though at least one division was reported as late as 2000. Manoeuvre formations have consistently stayed at a strength of around twenty brigades and regiments since 1995, though that has slowly risen recently. During the 1990s, these brigades may have included the 701st Motor Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps), the 708th Motor Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps), 130th Motor Rifle Brigade (1st Army Corps), 161st Motor Rifle Brigade (2nd Army Corps), 709th Motor Rifle Brigade (formerly the 23rd Motor Rifle Division), and the 112th Motor Rifle Brigade.
The Land Forces currently consist of five army corps:[21]
1st Army Corps also known asBarda Army Corps (deployed nearGanja ), currently led by Major GeneralHikmat Hasanov
2nd Army Corps also known asBeylagan Army Corps (concentrated againstArmenian occupied territories and part is deployed on the Azerbaijan-Iranian border), currently led by Major GeneralMais Barkhudarov[22]
3rd Army Corps also known asShamkir Army Corps (concentrated against Armenian occupied territories), currently led by Lieutenant General Rovshan Akbarov[23][24][25]
4th Army Corps also known asBaku Army Corps (coversAbsheron Peninsula and the coast)
Nakhchivan Separate Combined Arms Army (deployed inNakhchivan , currently led byColonel General Karam Mustafayev[26]TheIISS estimated in 2007 that the Azerbaijani regular army was 56,840 strong, probably basing this figure onConventional Forces in Europe treaty data. It attributes to the army five corps headquarters, 23 motor rifle brigades, one artillery brigade, one multiple rocket launcher brigade, and one anti-tank regiment.[27] Of the five army corps, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Army Corps are concentrated against NK; part of 2nd is deployed on theAzerbaijan-Iranian border; the 4th covers the capital and the coast and the 5th is deployed exclusively inNakhchivan.[28][29] Following the 2020 war, and specifically during theBaku Victory Parade, experts noted that a 6th corps was created, in part due to the partial mobilization that occurred in the country during that 44-day period.[30][31]
In addition, the Army maintains the following units:
Azerbaijani Special ForcesThe rank insignia ofcommissioned officers.
| Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Azerbaijani Land Forces[32] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||
| Ordu generalı | General-polkovnik | General-leytenant | General-mayor | Polkovnik | Polkovnik-leytenant | Mayor | Kapitan | Baş leytenant | Leytenant | Kiçik leytenant | ||||||||||||||
The rank insignia ofnon-commissioned officers andenlisted personnel.
| Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijani Land Forces[32] |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | No insignia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baş gizir | Gizir | Kiçik gizir | Baş çavuş | Çavuş | Kiçik çavuş | Baş əsgər | Əsgər | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The service march of the Lane Forces is "Forward" (Marş "İrəli") also known as the "Soldier's Anthem" (Əsgər Marşı). The lyrics are based on that of theRegiment March, which is the official march of theSpecial Forces Command of Turkey. The lyrics of the march are as follows:[33]
|
The march was written by Cavanşir Quliyev.[34] It is performed at allmilitary parades in Azerbaijan.
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