Turkey-Azerbaijan joint military exercises: a tool for strategic pressure against Armenia

In recent years, Turkey and Azerbaijan have been actively deepening their military cooperation in the form of joint military exercises. These exercises are not only educational and technically integrative in nature, but are also viewed as strategic stimuli aimed at undermining Armenia’s security environment. The new military-political reality emerging around Armenia, especially against the backdrop of military exercises in Nakhichevan and the adjacent regions of Artsakh, is forming a new pressure mechanism aimed at increasing the risks of conflict and weakening Armenia’s positions in the region.

In the analysis, we will discuss the goals, geography, political messages, and their possible consequences for Armenia's national security from the perspective of these military exercises.

Over the past 4-5 years, Turkey and Azerbaijan have actively conducted large-scale military exercises, the most famous of which are:

“Mustafa Kemal Atatürk–2021, 2023, 2025”, “Indestructible Brotherhood–2025”, Border exercises on the borders of Iran (2022), etc.

These exercises were conducted mainly in the occupied regions of Nakhichevan, Baku, and Artsakh, as well as in the border areas with Iran: Astara, Jrakan, Imishli, etc.

The exercises involved thousands of soldiers, tanks, artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles (Bayraktar), military aviation (F-16), communications and air defense systems. All these components indicate that these exercises have technological and tactical depth, aimed not only at training domestic forces, but also at transmitting a military-political signal.

The Turkey-Azerbaijan military exercises have the following strategic goals:

• Implementation of unified military command and communication systems,

• A show of force near the border for the purpose of psychological and diplomatic pressure,

• Testing the military base doctrine in the Nakhichevan-"Zangezur"-Artsakh context,

• Testing a common command platform in the event of a potential conflict.

All of these goals demonstrate that the exercises are a political tool to deliver a message to both Armenia and other actors in the region, including Russia, Iran, and even the West.

All of these military exercises took place in Armenia's immediate vicinity, in strategic corners. It is clearly visible how the exercises taking place on the borders of Nakhichevan, Artsakh, Syunik, and Iran are creating a blockade around Armenia.

Armenia's security challenges in this context

Military-political isolation.

Armenia's position is weakening as military and political pressure is exerted from the south through Nakhichevan, the north through Tavush, and the east through Syunik. These military exercises are intended to emphasize Armenia's isolation and hinder its strategic alliance stability.

Border instability.

The exercises in Nakhichevan threaten not only southwestern Syunik, but also indirectly put pressure on international communications, particularly the ongoing negotiations over the Zangezur corridor. The exercises are often accompanied by an increase in border incidents.

Russia's declining role.

One of the military-political messages of the exercises is also aimed at Russia, to show that the Turkey-Azerbaijan alliance is today a more operational and responsive structure. This means new security uncertainty for Armenia.

The ongoing nature of the joint Turkish-Azerbaijani military exercises, their territorial deployment, and the variety of military equipment used indicate that these are not just military-sports activities. They are aimed at disrupting Armenia's military balance, threatening its border security infrastructure, and forming a new tool for political pressure.

The militarization of Nakhichevan, the accumulation of equipment in the border areas of Artsakh, and the holding of exercises on the Iranian border indicate a large-scale military-political program, which should be considered not in isolation, but in the context of a single strategy. In these conditions, Armenia's security requires not only the development of defense capabilities, but also a multilateral diplomatic and information counteraction by informing the international community about the military-political dangers of these processes.

Armenia is facing a new generation of hybrid threats, where strategy is shaped not only by weapons, but also by pressure, military exercises, and propaganda.

International scholar, expert on Azerbaijani affairs: Garnik Davtyan