Azeri leader forms special field army in Nakhijevan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to establish a special field army (SFA) in Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic.

Lieutenant General Karam Mustafayev has been appointed the army's commander.

The decree was announced by the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Vahid Aliyev at a board meeting of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, Trend News said.

The head of the Doctrine Centre for Military Studies Journalism, Jasur Sumerinli considers the SFA creation unreasonable, according to Contact.az.

He believes the argument that the army will strengthen defense capability of the NAR to be untenable. In his view, the decision was made at the request of Vahid Aliyev and the Commander of the 5th Corps Mustafayev.

“Mustafayev has always enjoyed special powers; he did not reckon with the Ministry of Defense and instead, ran errands for Vahid Aliyev,” Sumerinli said.

According to the expert, following the appointment of a new Defense Minister, Mustafayev has taken steps to preserve his position and prevent the influence of the new minister by "legitimizing his independence."

Sumerinli believes the Nakhijevan army will be directly subordinated to the Supreme Commander. “Perhaps in some issues it will also be subordinated to the Defense Ministry in Baku. Factually, the country will get two Ministries of Defense, the solution further complicating the control of armed forces, instead of facilitating it,” the expert said.