The Azerbaijani National Army was founded 107 years ago, on June 26, 1918, when it had to immediately suppress Armenian nationalist uprisings in Karabakh and Zangazur and, together with the Islamic Army of the Caucasus under the command of Nuru Pasha, liberate Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, from foreign intervention. In Soviet times, these events were either ignored or mentioned only with ideological distortions so severe that understanding what had truly happened was nearly impossible.
Today, we know that even back then, the National Army of Azerbaijan achieved a military victory – a victory later stolen from the country after April 28, 1920, when Western Zangazur and the Goycha region were handed over to Armenia and an Armenian autonomy was established in Karabakh.
By tradition, it would be fitting to recall that Azerbaijan’s military heritage stretches back centuries — to speak of generals like Shikhlinski and Mehmandarov, of Azi Aslanov and Israfil Mammadov, of how the 416th Guards Taganrog Division stormed Berlin, and how its soldiers raised the Soviet flag over the Brandenburg Gate.
But today, June 26 is primarily viewed through the lens of the Karabakh War. Azerbaijan began rebuilding its national army under conditions of Armenian aggression. At a time when regular Russian military units were fighting on Armenia’s side, while Azerbaijan lacked the time and resources to form a proper army, it was volunteer battalions that held the front. Remarkably, thanks to the courage, bravery, and heroism of those fighters, Armenian aggressors and those behind them in Moscow failed to achieve their key strategic goals — to reach the Kura River, cut off future railway and pipeline routes. Azerbaijan preserved its statehood and maintained the potential for future development.
This ultimately allowed the country to build a new Army — professional, trained, equipped with modern weaponry, and highly motivated. The military history of independent Azerbaijan is the story of Mubariz Ibrahimov’s last stand, of the call “Vur, komandir, vur!” (“Strike, commander, strike!”), of the April battles of 2016 and the liberation of Lalatapa Heights — after which it became clear to informed observers that Armenia had been prematurely declared the victor of the early 1990s war, and Azerbaijan the loser.
Only after the victory in Karabakh did the true scale and design of Azerbaijan’s military development program become evident — a program implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, who would go on to become the victorious Supreme Commander and Qarabağ fatehi (Liberator of Karabakh). Having successfully implemented its oil and gas strategy, Azerbaijan reinvested its petrodollars not in superficial social projects but in the army — in modern weapons, military exercises, personnel training, and solving the everyday problems of servicemen.
With clenched determination, Azerbaijan steadily prepared to solve its most important national goal — the liberation of Karabakh. And this goal was achieved.
The result was a truly brilliant victory in Karabakh — a victory no one had expected from Azerbaijan. It was 44 days of uninterrupted counteroffensives with not a single step backward and no recorded cases of desertion. It was the storming of a natural mountain fortress — Karabakh — and the breakthrough of fortifications that Armenia and its patrons had worked on for decades. It was the liberation of the Aras River valley. It was the storming of Shusha from the cliffs of Dashalty. It was a “drone war” and the precise use of high-tech weaponry. It was the September 2023 anti-terror operation, in which a 15,000-strong Armenian military grouping — including hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, and electronic warfare systems — was defeated in under 24 hours.
Modern history, especially since the second half of the 20th century, offers few examples of such a clear, unconditional, and undisputed military victory — particularly given the initial conditions.
And this brings us to the present day. Today, the Azerbaijani army is even stronger than it was in 2020 and 2023. Azerbaijani soldiers are ready to respond to the challenges of our turbulent world — and there is no doubt that the world is turbulent. Just glance at the headlines.
That is why Azerbaijan keeps its powder dry. That is why it increases its defense budget, conducts military exercises, and continues to strengthen its combat capability. Because “the war is behind us, but this is still a land where paradise lies under the shadow of swords, and peace rests on the tip of a spear.”
Nurani
