{"id":190611,"date":"2018-06-27T17:07:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T17:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/azerbaijans-military-operation-in-nakhchivan-less-than-meets-the-eye\/"},"modified":"2018-06-27T17:07:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T17:07:14","slug":"azerbaijans-military-operation-in-nakhchivan-less-than-meets-the-eye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijans-military-operation-in-nakhchivan-less-than-meets-the-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan’s military operation in Nakhchivan: less than meets the eye?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \"Azerbaijani
\n Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attends a military parade on 26 June 2018. (Photo: mod.gov.az)
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n
\n Originally published by
\n
\n Eurasianet
\n <\/a>
\n <\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n Officials in Azerbaijan have been lauding a \u201chistoric\u201d military operation, demonstrating the \u201cprofessionalism,\u201d \u201cheroism and courage,\u201d and \u201cfighting spirit\u201d of their soldiers.\n<\/p>\n

\n It remains unclear, however, exactly what sort of operation has taken place.\n<\/p>\n

\n In late May, reports emerged that Azerbaijani forces had advanced within a no-man’s-land between the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Armenia. They set up new positions on a number of mountaintops and hilltops which gave them a greater ability to target Armenia’s main north-south highway. But Baku, rarely shy about trumpeting any sort of military advance, initially remained uncharacteristically reticent.\n<\/p>\n

\n They are no longer reticent. The \u201cNakhchivan Operation,\u201d or sometimes the \u201cG\u00fcnn\u00fct Operation\u201d (after a village in the contested area), has quickly entered the annals of Azerbaijani military glory. The Azerbaijan Ministry of Defense on June 20 released a 31-minute video devoted to it, and it has quickly become a staple of Baku’s military rhetoric.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/iframe>\n <\/div>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n \u201cThe Nakhchivan operation was carried out with high professionalism. Azerbaijani servicemen once again showed heroism and courage. We liberated strategic heights,\u201d President Ilham Aliyev said in an address at a June 26 military parade in Baku. \u201cThe Nakhchivan operation once again showed that the Azerbaijani army is a strong army.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Azerbaijani officials have been talking about the Nakhchivan \u201coperation\u201d in the same terms as the territorial gains it won during the heavy 2016 fighting with Armenia along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh, the territory disputed between the two sides.\n<\/p>\n

\n \"Eurasianet\"
\n Eurasianet
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n \u201cThe success achieved in Agdere, Fizuli and Jabrayil directions in April 2016, and also in May this year in Nakhchivan, became possible as a result of comprehensive reforms conducted thanks to the care and attention given by the supreme commander-in-chief of our army,\u201d Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov said on June 22. \u201cBoth historical moments that I noted clearly demonstrate that the Azerbaijani army exceeds the Armenian army in terms of combat readiness, high fighting spirit, moral and psychological state and professionalism.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n While the details of the Azerbaijani advance remain unclear, the lofty rhetoric seems to be a significant exaggeration. Whatever new territory Azerbaijan controls militarily was never claimed by Armenia, and it’s not clear if there was any fighting. Armenian Defense Ministry Spokesman Artsrun Oganesyan told TASS on May 20 that one Azerbaijani soldier was killed as he was taking part in \u201cengineering works.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cAzerbaijan\u2019s armed forces conducted active engineering works at certain sections of the border with Armenia seeking to improve their positions,\u201d Oganesyan said. \u201cInvigoration of engineering works and other provocative actions entail shootouts and, as a consequence, human casualties.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Azerbaijan claimed to have \u201cliberated\u201d 11,000 hectares in the operation, and published photos of what it said were former residents of G\u00fcnn\u00fct visiting their family members’ graves for the first time since 1992.\n<\/p>\n

\n In the face of the Azerbaijani PR offensive, Armenia has responded mockingly. \u201cWhy such modesty?\u201d tweeted the spokesman for Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, Tigran Balayan, to the territorial claims from Azerbaijan. \u201cGo ahead and claim 110,000 hectares. There are those who can’t wait to confirm and like.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \"From
\n From Tigran Balayan’s Twitter feed @tbalayan
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n Armenian officials also released video on June 11 that they claimed showed Armenian military officers escorting the Azerbaijani villagers to the G\u00fcnn\u00fct cemetery in an effort to prove that Armenia still held the strategic high ground there.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/iframe>\n <\/div>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has sought to downplay the advance. \u201cIn the strategic and tactical sense there have been no significant changes in Nakhchivan,\u201d he said in a June 25 Facebook live video. \u201cIn fact, we have the same situation that we had several months ago.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Some skeptical Azerbaijanis also saw the operation as more PR than military victory. \u201cEven the liberation of a single hilltop is broadcast to the nation as a \u2018great victory,’ and the nation generally agrees,\u201d wrote Shahin Rzaev, a Baku-based journalist, in an op-ed for the website JAM News. \u201cIt is possible that this is why the Azerbaijani media is making such a ruckus and creating euphoria over the establishment of control over a village which is hard to find even on a map.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n Joshua Kucera is the Turkey\/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of
\n
\n The Bug Pit
\n <\/a>
\n .
\n <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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