(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Azerbaijan's popular Russian language news website Day.Az
carries an article by Abdul Karimkhanov, editor-in-chief and
expert. The original article can be found at the link below:
The large-scale Azerbaijani-Turkish joint drills have added fuel
to the fire between the enemies of the two countries. Everything is
clear with Armenians - after their heavy defeat in the Second
Karabakh War, they shudder at the mere mention of the word
'Azerbaijan'. But now we are talking about Iran, which has crossed
all boundaries with its anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric and is desperate
to stay in the region. The drills are held along the border with
Iran, which is an open message to the mullocratic regime. And
Tehran is well aware of this.
Amid the new geopolitical realities in the region, the military
and political influence of Azerbaijan and Turkiye has significantly
increased. This surely worries Iran, which is zealous about any
successes of the two fraternal countries. Thus, in October, Iran
decided to demonstrate its strength by starting military drills on
the border with Azerbaijan, where it practiced crossing rivers with
armored units using pontoon bridges.
The devil is not as bad as they make it out to be. In terms of
logistics, the Iranian army has remained at the level of the 1970s
due to the sanctions imposed for many years. Iranian military's
October drills, during which they practiced driving pontoon bridges
and crossing the Araz River on the border with Azerbaijan, vividly
demonstrated the truth of the above-mentioned statement.
Today, Iran is directly responsible for the destruction of
Ukrainian cities, energy infrastructure, and civilian casualties.
Although Tehran had previously denied transferring drones to Russia
for the war in Ukraine, the Iranian government was finally forced
to acknowledge the supply of its drones. This did not go unnoticed
by the West, which imposed further anti-Iranian sanctions.
At first, the topic of Iranian drones caused a lot of trouble
for the Ukrainian military, but Ukraine's Armed Forces quickly
adapted to the situation and learned how to shoot them down. As a
result, more than 85% of Iranian drones are destroyed on their
route. The fact is that the Iranian UAVs are hastily copied
American drones, which are quite primitive in comparison with the
American original ones. Hence the low efficiency of Iranian
kamikaze drones.
And if Iran seriously thought flexing its muscles would make
Azerbaijan back down and stop defending its national interests,
they were deeply mistaken.
'During the year, we have held more than 10 joint military
drills with Turkiye. They have been organized both in Turkiye and
Azerbaijan. This is an important factor in regional stability and
our security. All those who hatched hostile plans against
Azerbaijan or Turkiye must know that the Turkish army is not only
the Turkish army, but also our army, and our army is not only our
army but also the Turkish army. Those who plan provocations on our
border and try to intimidate us should never forget this,'
President Ilham Aliyev said on November 25 speaking at the
international conference 'Along the Middle Corridor: Geopolitics,
Security and Economy'.
Since the 1990s, Iran has supported Armenia and defended its
interests. When Azerbaijan was going through hard times in the
first years of its independence and faced Armenian occupation, Iran
was developing political, trade and economic and humanitarian
relations with Armenia as if nothing had happened and joint
projects were implemented between the two countries. Iranian
leaders regularly embraced Armenian executioners such as Robert
Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, whose hands are soaked in the blood
of Azerbaijani people. For 30 years, Iran turned a blind eye to the
destruction of the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people, and
the destruction and desecration of mosques in the occupied
territories. Iranian companies were very closely involved in the
plundering of the subsoil of Karabakh. That is, Iran was interested
in a weak Azerbaijan and, on the contrary, in the strengthening of
Armenia. Is this what a country claiming Islamic values and Muslim
brotherhood does?
Moreover, the leadership of Iran was one of the last to support
Azerbaijan, once it was convinced that the fate of the war had
already been decided and the capitulation of Armenia was
inevitable. But during the war, Tehran used all kinds of means
against our country, from sending weapons to Armenia to open
threats.
If the military-political leadership of Iran completely loses
its reason and decides on armed aggression against Azerbaijan, then
the provision of the Shusha Declaration will come into force, which
states that 'in case of a threat or aggression by a third state or
states against its independence, sovereignty, territorial
integrity, inviolability or security of internationally recognized
borders, the parties will hold joint consultations and in order to
eliminate this threat or aggression will implement initiatives in
accordance with the principles of the UN Charter, as well will
provide each other with the necessary assistance in accordance with
the UN Charter”.
Thus, Azerbaijan is not alone and any sophisticated efforts of
Iran are doomed to failure. The military drills of Azerbaijan and
Turkiye are a stern warning to Iran and now the ball is on Tehran's
side, which has to realize that regaining its former influence in
the region through rapprochement with Yerevan is a wrong decision
and is fraught with destabilizing the situation in the region.
---
Follow us on Twitter @azernewsaz
Tags: azerbaijan iran drills provocation turkiye joint exercises
Comments
No comment