Turkey military exports to Azerbaijan up 600% this year

Turkish military exports to Azerbaijan increased by a staggering 610 per cent over the course of 2020, according to data recently released amid the defeat of Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The data released by the Turkey Exporters Union shows that the amount of Ankara’s military exports to its ally Baku totalled almost $256 million in the first 11 months of this year, representing the increased military cooperation between the two states.

That cooperation increased in the build-up towards the renewed conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia which began in September, leading up to the defeat and surrender of Armenia last month which ended the country’s three-decade-long occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Prior to the conflict, both Turkey and Azerbaijan had conducted joint military drills as late as August shortly before the conflict began, and Turkey had left some of its F-16 fighter jets within Azerbaijan as a deterrent.

Turkish military staff and advisers also helped form and improve Azerbaijan’s strategy in warfare, providing an advisory role.

In terms of weapons, Azerbaijan hugely benefited from the Turkish Bayraktar drones, of which at least six were shipped to the country along with precision-guided missiles. With that drone warfare on its side – perfected by Turkey in its Syrian and Libyan fronts – Azerbaijan devastated Armenian forces, killing thousands of troops and destroying numerous military vehicles and equipment.

Such drone warfare used successfully by Turkey and Azerbaijan prompted a senior analyst at the European Council to last week warn that Europe should be worried at such a development, saying that most European militaries “would do as miserably as the Armenian Army”.

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