According to inside information in the Kremlin, Moscow will not sell “Bal” missile systems to Azerbaijan. This information was first made public through the Russian daily Komersant on 05 December. One of the reasons for the change in policy appears to be that the missile systems have the potential to shift theContinue Reading
Source: INGILIZIAN, MASIS, “Azerbaijan Pushes into Nakhichevan Borderlands”, Bellingcat, 08 NOV 2018 *all opinions expressed are those of the original author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or stance of Nagorno Karabakh Observer. Recent satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows ongoing engineering works by the Azerbaijani armed forces on theContinue Reading
On 06 November 2018, official sources within the Azeri government announced what is the be the start of an assembly line producing the new HP machine gun. The latter was first introduced in trials around 2013, and almost five years later a decision was adopted to start mass production. The machineContinue Reading
According to open sources, news has emerged of a death in the Azeri Armed Forces. The death occurred back in July of this year while a second incident took place at the beginning of September 2018. On 22 July 2018, Ferid Shabanov was killed by Armenian fire at aContinue Reading
The days of September started with losses of servicemen in both Armenia and Azerbaijan. On 03 September 2018, a member of Azerbaijan’s border guards, Elennur Suleymanov (born 1994), was accidentally killed by a Georgian lorry driver at the Georgia-Azerbaijan border post between Şıxlı (Azerbaijan) and Kirach Mughanlu (Georgia) when theContinue Reading
On 19 January 2018, media outlets started publishing the first photos on an Russian arms transfer of BTR-80 armoured personnel carriers and other military equipment to Azerbaijan. On the same day, Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry published its news brief on the transfer, stating that military equipment has been received and will beContinue Reading
The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Krakow, Poland on 18 January 2018. The meeting was organised by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and was reportedly behind closed doors, although photos of the meeting were made public. What exactly was discussed during the meeting remains unknown, however speculationContinue Reading
A criminal case has been started by Nagorno Karabakh judicial officials against captured Azeri soldier Elnur Huseynzade. The latter was captured by Armenian forces in February of 2017 during a small-scale military operation near the north-western village of Talish. The Karabakh Defence Army reported that the captured was a member of anContinue Reading
The second week of January saw the detention and subsequent deportation of Russian scientist Dmitri Chulkov by Azeri authorities. The incident occurred on 05 January 2018, when Chulkov set off on a hike near the nature preserve surrounding lake Göygöl in western Azerbaijan . According to military police who detainedContinue Reading
On 13 January, a group of religious leaders and Shia community members organised a pro-Iran protest in the midst of the ongoing internal unrest in Iran. The protesters, mainly men, chanted pro-Iran slogans and expressed their support for the theocratic government in Tehran. One protester expressed “Khamenei is not onlyContinue Reading
A recent investigation by private sources in Azerbaijan reveal that at least 59 Azeri servicemen were killed in the year 2017. Although information on military deaths remains a state secret, an analysis of social networks and personal interviews revealed that at least 19 of these were killed in combat,Continue Reading
Azerbaijan seeks to develop its own combat unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) after Israeli company revokes license. Minster of Azeri Defense Industry, Yaver Camalov reportedly briefed reporters on the issue this week. In his words, the new programme is aimed at developing “kamikaze” UAV’s, similar to the Israeli-produced Harop used againstContinue Reading
Footage and satellite imagery from the past several months highlight demolitions of ethnic-Armenian churches, homes, residential buildings and even a village in Nagorno Karabakh. The demolitions were carried out by Azerbaijan’s government, now fully in control of the territory. The entire Armenian population of 120,000 fled to Armenia proper
Mayors of the three major cities of former Nagorno Karabakh, have been arrested by Armenian authorities coinciding with a growing opposition movement with whom they may have been associated with. The mayor of Karabakhi capital Stepanakert, and those of Askeran and Martakert cities have been detained by Armenian authorities. Stepanakert
On 24 May, 2024, Armenia’s Defence Ministry reported that the country’s prime minister nominated five colonels to be promoted to the rank of major general. This is one of the highest numbers of officers promoted to such ranks in one act in recent years. These career advancements possibly indicate loyalty,
Azerbaijan’s defence minister receives large Turkish delegation headed by the country’s deputy defence minister and the heads of numerous Turkish defence firms. The two sides discussed further military coop. including joint weapons production. Interestingly, Turkish general Bahtiyar Ersay appears in a complete Azeri military uniform on Azerbaijan’s side of the
In January 2024, footage emerged of what appear to be Azeri military personnel in the ethnic-Armenian village of Hakaku, Nagorno Karabakh (NK). The village, along with the entire territory of NK were overran by Azerbaijan’s military during it’s offensive in September 2023. One of the first sources of the footage
Since approximately 2020, mystery aircraft have been spotted flying around Azerbaijan’s northwestern Dallar airbase, 30 km from Armenia’s border. They were spotted a month prior to the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war and had been seen numerous times since. The aircraft had not been able to be explicitly identified through open
