Baku, Tbilisi, Ankara plan to broaden military co-op

By Sara Rajabova - AzerNews 

Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey seek to broaden the cooperation among them in the military field.

Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli said on July 14 that the plan of cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in defense sphere for 2016 will be approved at the next meeting of the three countries’ defense ministers in October.

She told Trend that the mentioned meeting will be held in Turkey’s Ankara city.

Khidasheli also said the new cooperation plan will be even bigger with more components than before, because it is just developing.

Furthermore, the minister added that a lot of activities are planned within the trilateral format of cooperation between Georgian, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Noting that cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan is really strong, Khidasheli said “from our side, I can say that Azerbaijan is the most reliable, loyal friend partner for Georgia and we do appreciate this.”

Regional neighbors -- Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia -- are actively working to strengthen and improve their trilateral military and defense ties.

The first initiative of military cooperation in between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia emerged in 2013 and was followed by the first official meeting of the defense ministers on the sidelines of NATO Ministerial in Brussels, in June 2014.

Further meetings of the ministers in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan in August 2014 and in Georgia's Tbilisi in April 2015 put forward the planning and execution of joint training exercises in view of protecting the region's strategic energy-transport infrastructure.

Military experts believe that both Azerbaijan and Georgia attach great importance to cooperation with Turkey, which is much more accomplished in the defense industry. Turkey's indigenous defense programs encompass the full spectrum of military operations and include major areas across land, air, sea and space.