Azerbaijani, Georgian, Turkish Defense Ministers Meet, Discuss Joint Exercises

Defense Ministers of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey held fourth trilateral meeting in the Azerbaijani city of Gabala on May 15 and discussed, among other issues, holding of joint military exercises.

“Holding of exercises in a trilateral framework was discussed. Georgia has expressed willingness to host several such exercises in 2017,” Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli said in remarks distributed by the Georgian MoD. “We have received consent, so we will prepare for spring, 2017.”

“The parties reiterated the importance of enhancing the combat readiness of the three countries’ armed forces and holding of trilateral joint military exercises in order to achieve mutual interoperability, trilateral development of military education and training, development of cooperation on cyber security, and further improvement of trilateral exercises on the protection of oil and gas pipelines,” Azerbaijan’s state news agency Azertag reported quoting Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov.

A planned memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the defense ministries of the three countries was also discussed, according to the Georgian Defense Minister.

Trilateral defense ministerial meetings are held twice a year since August, 2014.

In Gabala the Georgian Defense Minister also held bilateral meetings with her Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts, Zakir Hasanov and İsmet Yılmaz, respectively.

The Georgian MoD said that at a meeting with the Azerbaijani counterpart, the Georgian Defense Minister offered Baku to make use of training programs provided by the NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Center and Defense Institutional Building School in Georgia, both part of the NATO-Georgia substantial package.

Regional security, Turkey’s support to Georgia’s NATO integration, as well as “Black Sea security concept” were discussed during the meeting with the Turkish Defense Minister, according to the Georgian MoD.

“Turkey supports Georgia’s NATO integration unconditionally, without any caveats,” Khidasheli said, adding that the defense ministries of the two countries will work on joint training programs.

“We support Georgia’s NATO membership and appreciate its performance in reform efforts in this way,” Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported quoting Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz.