Azerbaijan Displays Military Hardware In 'Victory' Parade After Conflict With Armenia
Drones, tanks, and soldiers paraded through the streets of Baku in celebration of Azerbaijan regaining territory from Armenian forces in and around its breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Azerbaijan's key ally in the six-week conflict, also attended.
More than 3,000 military personnel and around 150 pieces of military equipment, including aircraft, took part in the parade, while naval vessels performed maneuvers in the nearby Bay of Baku.
Turkish military forces lined up alongside Azerbaijani troops on Azadliq (Freedom) Square in the center of Baku.
Azerbaijani Army Lieutenant Colonel Elmar Huseyn is a veteran of the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. He also took part in the latest conflict, which took place from September 27 to November 9.
A car carries Erdogan through the streets of Baku The conflict is widely regarded as having strengthened Turkey's geopolitical position in the Caucasus, challenging traditional Russian dominance in the region.
Erdogan (left) joined his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, to review the parade.
Ranks of soldiers filed past the two leaders.
A Turkish-made Cobra armored vehicle rolls by, equipped with a PK machine gun and a Belarusian-made Shershen anti-tank missile. The parade showcased much of the military hardware oil-rich Azerbaijan has purchased on the global arms market in recent years.
Medals jangling, Azerbaijani soldiers march in formation. Thousands of people, military and civilian, were killed on both sides of the conflict.
This is a Russian-produced Osa-MB surface-to-air missile system. Over many years, Russia has sold weapons and equipment to both Azerbaijan and Armenia.
A Hermes-900 medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) drone manufactured in Israel. Azerbaijan's use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is seen as a key factor in its military dominance over Armenian forces.
An Azerbaijani Army armored vehicle with a mounted UAV
Equipment captured from Armenian forces was also paraded, such as this armored personnel carrier (APC).
Spectators cheer the parade. The conflict ended in November with a Russian-brokered truce handing swathes of territory to Azerbaijan, prompting celebrations on the streets of Baku.
A 203mm 2S7 Pion self-propelled heavy artillery system. On both sides, residential areas were hit by shelling and rockets, causing deaths and injuries among civilians.
The slogan on this truck reads "Karabakh is Azerbaijan." Under the cease-fire terms, a chunk of the territory has remained under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, including the biggest city, Stepanakert. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but the ethnic Armenians who make up most of the region's population reject Azerbaijani rule. The backdrop to the slogan is made up of license plates from military vehicles seized by the Azerbaijani Army in the recent conflict, seemingly a pointed reference to a notorious wall constructed from the license plates of vehicles belonging to Azeris who were expelled from Armenia when the first Nagorno-Karabakh war erupted in 1988.
A sea of Azerbaijani flags among the spectators. The truce allows Azerbaijanis who left their homes in the 1990s conflict to return, but it has also led to an exodus of ethnic Armenian civilians.
Spectators wave and shoot video as a Turkish-made T-300 Kasirga multiple-rocket-launching system passes by.
Military aircraft release smoke in the colors of the Azerbaijani flag over Baku.
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