CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 34

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
US, Russia, Pakistan, Iraq and Jordan. Only in 2016, Iraq purchased more
than 500 anti-tank grenade launchers RPG -7V2 produced in Azerbai-
jan, and more than 500 mortars with 60mm caliber, which has become
the biggest arm-contract of Azerbaijan yet. 53 MDI has plans to expand the
arms production in 2018 as well. 17 new items are designed to be pro-
duced including “Tufan” (Storm) armored military vehicle, which will
become the fi rst vehicle fully produced domestically. 54
Building partnership: military cooperation since 2010
In accordance with its military build-up and modernization, Azerbai-
jan was also seeking to enlarge the realm of military collaboration after
the adoption of the MD. Although military deals of a country were large-
scale in their nature before 2010 as well, 2010 has marked the beginning
of a new phase of arms purchasing, enhanced military cooperation, and
strategic partnership.
On August 16, 2010, the agreement on “Strategic partnership and mu-
tual assistance” was signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Although the
cornerstone of the treaty was the agreement on reciprocal aid in case of ag-
gression, the formation and articulation of statements were vague enough
to put it into implementation. Briefl y, the statements included in the treaty
do not specify the obligation of both sides to militarily assist each other in
case of a war. However, Azerbaijan reached the inclusion of proposition,
that the opening of Turkish-Armenian border is directly tied with the Na-
gorno-Karabakh issue and Turkey would not act against the interests of its
strategic partner Azerbaijan; a proposition as a result of which Armenia re-
mained with 80% of closed borders. Treaty also includes regulations and
provisions on Turkey-Azerbaijan military cooperation, based on which se-
ries of military agreements were signed since 2010.
The Republic of Azerbaijan sees Russia as a potential threat taking
into account the existence of Russian military base in Armenia and espe-
cially analyzing Russian behavior in the 2008 Georgian crisis. However,
potential threats coming from Russia do not hinder the cooperation be-
tween countries in the military fi eld. Although the cooperation has rooted
in the early 1990s, it had especially intensifi ed after 2010, when between
2011-2012, series of contracts were signed in order to deliver substantial
armed packages to Azerbaijan. 55 The contracts included the 1bln -dollar
53
54
55
Ibid.
Shahbazov, “Azerbaijan”.
“Russia starts delivering $1 billion arms package to Azerbaijan.” Reuters, June 18, 2013,
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-azerbaijan-arms/russia-starts-delivering-1-bil-
lion-arms-package-to-azerbaijan-idUSBRE95H0KM20130618?feedType=RSS&feed-
Name=worldNews (accessed June 7, 2018).
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