What is the Purpose of the Deployment of Turkish F-16s to Baku and the Turkey-Azerbaijan Military Exercises: Hayrapetyan

Former MP of the RA National Assembly Tatevik Hayrapetyan writes on her Facebook page: “I am sure that many are already aware of the Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises taking place along the borders with Iran. The exercises are named 'Fraternal Fist'. They involve ground forces, air forces, special forces, engineering troops, and missile and artillery units of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

During the exercises, among other things, the guidance of pontoon bridges over rivers is being practiced, and the deployment of troops into the territory of a conditional adversary is showcased; in the displayed footage, they cross the Aras River.

Turkish F-16s have flown to Baku to participate in the exercises. It is noteworthy that they had flown to Azerbaijan before, in July 2020, for joint exercises, then remained during the September war, and reappeared during the joint exercises in September 2022, just days before the aggression unleashed against the RA.

The current military exercises are accompanied by an anti-Iranian propaganda campaign. There are numerous such articles in the Azerbaijani media, claiming that this is a response to the military exercises conducted by Iran months ago. For instance, one author from a propaganda website mentions in their article: 'According to the Ayatollahs, which should scare the armies of Turkey and Azerbaijan, who were closely observing the exercises of the IRGC units along the Azerbaijani borders. Is it the outdated armored vehicles of the 1970s, the Soviet MiG jets, which were considered obsolete in the 20th century, combat helicopters bought from the U.S. by the Shah in the early 1970s, or the ground forces that still use the tactics from the Iran-Iraq war? Today, Iranian military personnel and politicians have the opportunity to direct their binoculars to the opposite bank of the Aras River, observe the joint exercises of the Azerbaijani and Turkish armies armed with 21st-century weapons and gain a comprehensive understanding of what a modern army is capable of...'

But what is striking is that the Azerbaijani side continues to 'rise' exclusively thanks to Turkish support. Names of Turkish generals continue to be circulated, such as Bahtiyar Ersay, who commanded the Azerbaijani army during the aggressive actions against Artsakh and remained in Azerbaijan afterward. Today, he essentially leads the army along with several other Turkish generals.

As much as this seems directed against Iran, I believe that Azerbaijan and Turkey are trying to test the Iranian side’s reaction in the event of possible aggression against the RA. They have again activated the topic of 'corridors' and threaten with force once more. But our political leadership has its unique approach to solving issues - to ignore everything, stick their heads in the sand like an ostrich, and create the impression that everything is fine, while eventually, a whole state and people are left facing the consequences.

And why do they act this way? Because for over two years, they have been 'digesting' the disasters caused by their criminal inaction, bearing no responsibility for them, learning no lessons, correcting nothing, and yet they are again elected, and the reason for this is the lack of a proper alternative...”