Alone in field is not warrior: time has come for military component of OTG

Security and defense issues have been important to humanity at all times. Today, when military technologies have reached a new level of development, this topic is no longer individual for countries and requires a collective approach. In the modern world, even the powers alone are not capable of ensuring their security and integrity. Cooperation, partnership, and bilateral and multilateral agreements can serve as a fairly reliable guarantee that external stakeholders will think ten times before taking unfriendly steps. 

Speaking at the 12th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev proposed to hold joint military exercises within the framework of the OTS. "Taking into account the broad cooperation between our countries in the military, defense and security spheres, we propose to hold joint military exercises of the Organization of Turkic States member states in Azerbaijan in 2026," he said.

The President of Azerbaijan stated the need for cooperation in the security and defense spheres in the space of the OTS at the 10th anniversary summit of the organization in Astana in November 2023. Last September, at a meeting of the heads of Central Asian and Azerbaijani countries in Kazakhstan, the Azerbaijani leader said that the growing threats and challenges in the world require greater strengthening of cooperation between our countries in the field of defense and security. In this context, he emphasized the importance of joint military exercises.

The intentions of the OTS countries to continue joint activities in the field of the military-industrial complex were also reflected in the declaration of the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States, held in July 2024 in Shusha.

In Gabala, the President of Azerbaijan once again raised the issue of joint exercises within the framework of the Organization of Turkic States. This proposal received a warm response in the Turkish media. It was called historical, and Turkish journalists have already come up with a name for the exercises themselves - the Turan exercises.

Exercises between member countries are conducted on a bilateral basis, and members of the TS participate in multilateral exercises with other countries. But so far there have been no military maneuvers that would be conducted under the auspices of the Organization of Turkic States.

Azerbaijan's OTS partners in Central Asia have numerous and fairly modern armies. In the ranking of the world's armies for 2025, the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are even ahead of our country. Nevertheless, Azerbaijan has something that none of the fraternal Turkic countries has - the experience of a victorious war. Even the second NATO army, Turkiye, has no such experience. This experience is very expensive, and God forbid any of our brothers get it in reality. Strengthening defense cooperation and institutionalizing this cooperation within the framework of the TS is the best way to avoid facing serious threats to our sovereignty and integrity.    

According to experts, military maneuvers under the auspices of the TS should become regular and be conducted, including in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. Such exercises will not only contain a powerful geopolitical message, but will also allow us to learn from the experience of the Azerbaijani Army in recent battles.

Although the "Turan exercises" are still under discussion, the member countries have been cooperating for more than a year in terms of joint exercises.

In June of this year, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan conducted military exercises "Caspian Breeze-2025" in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Aktau port. In July, the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan Tarlan-2025 tactical flight exercises were held, the main theme of which was the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. In September, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkiye participated in the Unlimited Brotherhood-IV joint exercises with Pakistan. Armored vehicles, army aircraft and UAVs were involved in the maneuvers.

On October 15, the opening ceremony of the joint regional exercises "Unity - 2025" with the participation of military personnel from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan took place in the Samarkand region of Uzbekistan.

In 2024, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan conducted joint tactical and special exercises "Altyn Kyran - 2024" ("Golden Eagle - 2024"). The two countries also participated in the Birlestik-2024 command and staff exercises together with units of the armed forces of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as in joint naval exercises of the Caspian littoral states (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia).

Now it's time to move the joint maneuvers directly to the site of the Organization of Turkic States.

A WORD TO THE EXPERT

Military expert, former corps commander, recipient of the Order of the Azerbaijani Banner, Reserve Colonel Shair Ramaldanov:

"Given the geopolitical situation and the ongoing processes in the world, the Organization of Turkic States should have a structure that will allow member countries to join forces to ensure their security and sovereignty. Unfortunately, international organizations that are called upon to protect the interests of countries suffering from such threats are failing to meet their obligations. Azerbaijan, part of whose territory was occupied by Armenia for thirty years, despite 4 UN resolutions, was forced to do it on its own. He himself restored his territorial integrity, paying a high price for it. I am sure that if there had been an organization uniting the Turkic states at that time, the history of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict could have been completely different.

Any organization is only worth something if it knows how to defend itself. If there are no guarantees for the security of the countries located in its territory, this organization is worthless. It is no coincidence that President Ilham Aliyev raised the issue of security and cooperation in the fields of defense and security, as well as the holding of joint exercises at the 12th AH summit.

The issue of strengthening cooperation in the field of security and defense of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States is a matter of time.

Azerbaijan conducted 25 exercises with Turkiye alone in 2025. Now it is necessary to make the exercises of the Turkic countries multilateral. The time has come for the Turkic countries to present a united front in matters of security in the Trans-Pacific Region. There are forces for this. In total, if we take only the number of armed forces of the CIS countries, then this is more than a million personnel. This is a very big force.

The main role, of course, is played by Turkiye, whose army is the second most powerful in NATO and the strongest in Europe. But other Turkic countries, based on today's geopolitical realities, are beginning to realize the need to strengthen the armed forces and increase the military budget. As national leader Heydar Aliyev said, it is much more difficult to preserve independence and make it eternal than to win it.   

In terms of military cooperation, the Turkic countries and the OTS as an organization as a whole have very good prospects. With the establishment of the OTS+ format, the organization will begin to expand beyond the borders of the Turkic space, which is important from the point of view of strengthening security in our region and neighboring regions.

Azerbaijan conducted exercises with the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan and other CIS countries. But so far there have been no exercises under the auspices of the OTS. Such exercises are likely to take place in 2026. The issues of cooperation in the fields of security and defense of the Turkic countries are an issue that takes time to resolve. It takes time for the headquarters and armies of the member countries to learn how to interact and perform their tasks together. Over time, I think, appropriate OT structures will be created with the participation of representatives of the armed forces of the organization's members.

Azerbaijan has chosen the Turkish model for the development of the army. Perhaps other countries will use this model as a basis. This will make it possible in the future to better and reliably organize and coordinate interaction between the armies of the Turkic countries to fulfill a particular task. In the future, I also do not rule out the creation of the Turan army, which will serve to ensure the security of this region.

I would especially like to mention military-technical cooperation. The military-industrial complex of Azerbaijan attracts the attention of the members of the TS, and negotiations on joint negotiations are underway. The Azerbaijani military-industrial complex meets the most modern requirements, our personnel are highly qualified, constantly replenish their knowledge, and improve their professionalism at various events for the exchange of experience with partners with developed military-industrial complexes. These are Turkiye, Pakistan, and Israel. The products of the Azerbaijani military-industrial complex are in demand. As President Ilham Aliyev said, Azerbaijan exports military-industrial complex products to dozens of countries and the geography of supplies is expanding from year to year. This industry is profitable for Azerbaijan.

I am sure that the Turkic countries have great prospects in the military-technical sphere.

In short, unification and integration are relevant in today's world. One is not a warrior in the field, and in our turbulent times it is problematic to get out of difficult situations alone. The problems that the Turkic countries have are similar, and together we will figure them out."